Get out alive
by meatpuppet1
Summary: Yet another one of Megamind's plans back fire and so does his escape, but this time he's not alone in the backlash! Can he escape the inescapable? Rated T for language,violence, and suggestive themes!
1. prologue

_This is my very first fan fic! Super excited about it and can't wait to hear the criticism from all you Megamind fans (good or bad, bring it on). I know this is sort of short but they won't all be this way. Can't promise how often I can update, but I will give it my all!_

_BTW! I do not own Megamind or any of its characters! =)_

**Prologue**

"I hate you," Roxanne screeched at the top of her lungs, "I really freaking hate you!" She threw her useless broken heels at Megamind's bulbous, blue head. He leaned easily out of the way of the hurtling footwear as he sat brooding in the hot sand. Megamind looked out over the endless sea before him, not really seeing it. "This has been _the_ single worst day of my life, ever! And it's all thanks to your stupid little game!"

"There are worse things, Miss. Ritchi," Megamind said as he took up a fist full of the powdery sand.

"Oh, right dying, forgot." She said with a huff as she plopped down beside him.

Megamind let the sand filter through his fingers, "No, living completely alone, that in my opinion is worse." They were quiet for a long time before Megamind finally stood and said, "come on, we can't stay here. It's getting dark."


	2. kidnapped

_Okay, so here is the first real installment of __**Get out alive**__ (title inspired by a song by the band __**Three Days Grace**__). Please enjoy!_

**Kidnapped**

It was a routine kidnapping; knock-out spray, rancid bag over the head, dangling from a rope over some yet to be reviled deadly threat- the whole shebang. Roxanne however was just that much more irked on this particular day because of a previous engagement she had planned, which would now have to be rescheduled. She had thought that after three weeks of seeing hide nor hair of Megamind that she was safe a little longer, but once again her hopes were pulverized into particulate matter by this little blue dweeb. She roused from her aerosol induced sleep and sighed at the already chaffing ropes around her ankles and wrists. Megamind clunked and clattered around and cursed whatever evil contraption of science was ailing him now. It was funny how when he was caught off guard he was far from malicious. In this way he struck her as more of a misguided and absent-minded genius rather than an evil mastermind. However that did not make up for how annoyingly persistent he was. Any hour was a time for evil apparently, and neither rain nor shine could ever dampen his hopes of conquest.

Roxanne wriggled in her bindings, the ropes had already begun to dig into her stomach, and it was getting worse by the second. Megamind halted his actions momentarily when he glimpsed Miss. Ritchi's feeble attempt to free herself. He hurriedly finished his repairs to the faulty circuits and dove for his high-backed, black leather chair. He nodded to Minion once he was comfortable; who then lifted the bag from her head, reviling a none too pleased Miss. Ritchi.

Megamind gave a soft maniacal laugh. "We meet again, Miss. Ritchi," he said throatily, bringing his fingertips together making a leathery triangle, "I trust you enjoyed your break from the clutches of evil?"

She frowned at the shadowy figure, "yes, actually I was starting to. I was having an excellent Tuesday, and you had to go and ruin it. Fridays turn out not to be villainous enough or something? "

"Evil waits for no single weekday," he dramatically raised his index.

"Well you've been kidnapping me every Friday for quite a while, I couldn't help but see a connection," she snorted.

Megamind said nothing, but his eyebrow twitched. He slowly slid his chair across the room eyeing the ropes and her disgruntled expression, "how are your accommodations? Comfy enough," he pulls at the rope.

"Hardly, unless you're a tire swing," Roxanne mumbled darkly.

Megamind smirked, "someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. What could possibly have rubbed you the wrong way?"

"I thought it was painfully obvious," she paused, internally taking pleasure in her little pun , "besides, isn't your ultimate goal to make me as uncomfortable as possible?"

"True-," he mused, "tell me, Miss. Ritchi, on a scale from one to ten, how uncomfortable are you?"

Roxanne looked around at her immediate surroundings. Eerily dark abandoned warehouse, looming shadows of foreign objects lurking outside the harsh light, the nagging pain in her abdomen , the rope burn she'll undoubtedly have later, the tingle of numbness in her feet. "Meh, nothing too serious, I give it a solid seven," she stated.

Megamind furrowed his brow, "Well we'll see about that, won't we?" He spun his chair to face his faithful servant, "Minion, I think it's time to get this evil scheme on the road. It's time to call out Metro Mahn."


	3. New world

**New world**

Metro Man burst through the ceiling in all his pristine glory moments after Megamind made his announcement over the PA system he had rigged up the night before. She was hoping today's scheme wasn't going to take much longer; she was really starting to feel hungry.

"Greetings Metro Mahn," Megamind said with a sneer, "are you prepared to face justice's ultimate demise?"

"Justice will never see an end," Metro Man declared, "as long as a single flame of hope burns bright, good will rise up."

"But that flame will eventually burn it's out, leaving the cold ashes of evil," Megamind countered.

"Good can rekindle itself from the embers of morality," Metro Man threw back.

"This is gonna take a while," Roxanne thought to herself . She turned to minion and politely asked, "Minion, is it possible that I could have a drink of water? This going nowhere fast," she jerked her head in the direction of the two locked in a fierce battle of the banter.

"Why certainly," Minion nodded happily, "I've made churros too, would you like one?"

"Absolutely, thank you," she smiled as minion disappeared behind some equipment for a few moments and returned with a plate of piping hot sugary goodness. He held one up to Roxanne who chomped down eagerly on the churro.

"Mmm," she hummed with satisfaction, "best churro ever, Minion."

"Why thank you Miss. Ritchi," Minion blushed slightly.

"Makes up for my date a little," She smiled wistfully.

"With Metro Man", he inquired.

Roxanne sighed and glanced at Minion's oddly cute face, "no, a new guy at work who hasn't found out about my 'involvement' with Metro Man just yet, but he will."

Minion drew his fishy eyebrow up, "Miss. Ritchi isn't that considered cheating?"

"On whom," she pouted, "I haven't had a date since I had dinner with Metro Man years ago, and that was the first and last one. He's way too awkward to be around outside of work. Since then there have been all these rumors that he'll pulverize anyone who comes near me." She shook her head in disgust, "The only reason I haven't said anything about it is because my boss says that's it's bringing in extra ratings and Metro Man doesn't have to fend off the ravenous fan girls as much. I could get demoted."

Minion drooped at her plight, "That's terrible. No wonder you were more distressed than usual."

"And you can't tell a soul," she begged, "please don't say anything."

"Well I won't tell Sir, but if he asks I can't lie," his eyes trailed to the poised blue villain.

Roxanne smiled softly, "thanks Minion, I feel a bit better having someone know the truth."

"No problem-o," Minion mirrored her.

Roxanne took another bite of churro just as Megamind revealed his new invention, which promptly enveloped Metro Man with the help of a few nimble robots with rolls of what looked like plastic wrap. Metro Man squirmed almost pathetically in the thick layers of opaque binding.

"I call it, super-saran-wrap," Megamind smirked, leaning casual against a support column; his arms crossed "It's no longer just a handy way to keep leftovers fresh, it is an insidious sticky prison for meddling heroes. The more pressure you exert on it, the more it forces back. And don't even think about-," he was suddenly interrupted by the reflection of Metro Mans laser vision against the bindings, which zoomed just past his ear causing him to freeze up in shock. The destructive beam bounced about the lair for a while causing some chaos before finally making its way out through the hole Metro man himself created upon his entrance. Megamind straightened up from his crouched position, brushing off the incident and regaining his composure, "like I was trying to say, don't even think about using your-," again he was cut short.

"Fire," Minion exclaimed. Several of the crates that were stacked against the back wall where ablaze, thanks to the rogue beam, and the flames were quickly spreading toward some crates ominously marked 'explosives'.

Megamind's eyes widened, and he rushed over to Minion and Roxanne, "time go," he said urgently cutting Roxanne's main rope, "to the teleportation device!" Minion scooped her up, still clutching the plate of churros in the other hand, and they scuttled to a machine cluttered corner of the abandoned warehouse.

Megamind pressed some buttons and moved a few leavers that were mounted on a wide metal tube with what looked like a large satellite dish and several tesla coils attached to the top and sides.

The trio squeezed inside just before an explosion shook the contraption and flung some debris into its side causing the machine to suddenly and dangerously tip. Megamind's elbow smash down a large blue button just as several more explosions began. In a wavering hum and a flash of light they were gone.

Moments later they reappeared in a tumble of churros, saltwater, and flailing limbs, spluttering and trying to regain their ground (or in this case water). Roxanne floundered as she tried to stay afloat hindered by the high heels still strapped tightly to her feet. Megamind surfaced near her trying to wipe the sting of salt from his eyes.

"What happened," She said, getting a mouth full of water.

"The impact of the explosion - must have cau- caused a - malfunction," he choked between waves.

Roxanne looked about her, "where's Minion?"

Megamind pointed bellow him. Roxy ducked beneath the water and spotted minion swimming around his submerged suit with a small school of fish. It was resting on what she supposed was a coral reef. Brightly colored soft corals and sponges swayed in the tide as little fish of all hues darted between the rocks in a frenzied dance.

Minion swam up from the depths upon spying her and smiled, "there is a large land mass just over yonder," he bobbed in the direction he was referring, "I'll be right up." He swam back down to his suit locking the helmet in place.

Roxanne resurfaced, gasping for air, and Minion followed in his morphed suit. It now resembled a small submarine with orange floats keeping it buoyant. Both half-drowned bipeds latched on to the drifting suit and minion propelled them toward the thin green mass on the horizon.

"Worse day ever," Roxanne said crossly.

Megamind smiled weakly, "well, things can only get better from here."

"Unless there's a change of clothes and a margarita on that beach, I doubt it," She grumbled.

When Minion reached the island he hauled the bedraggled pair up the sandy beach and placed them in the soft shade of a strange tree. It resembled a palm but the leaves were large, waxy looking ovals, and the smooth coconut sized fruit that hung from it was plum purple specked with olive green. The rest of the trees in the area seemed just as unique if not more than the one they rested by.

"Strange," Megamind said leaning against the tree, "I've never heard of any known plant species that are similar to these specimens."

Roxanne went ridged, "so you're saying that we're on an uncharted island?"

"No, Miss. Ritchi," Megamind stood and pointed to the sky, "more like an uncharted planet. Take a look at those moons."

Sure enough three moons hung above their heads, barely noticeable in the noon sky but undeniably there.

"Guess we aren't in Kansas anymore. What do we do now, Sir," Minion's voice was just above a whisper.

"Survive," he murmured, "first things first, we need to hunt down the basics."


	4. Resolve

_Well I'm **so** happy that I got some good feedback from a few readers here and there. It's nice to know I'm not failing as a writer so far, TY! =)_

**Resolve**

Roxanne wasn't to terribly concentrated on gathering suitable fire wood. She was too busy fruitlessly lusting after that piece of cake in her fridge that lay billions of light-years across the galaxy. She imagined exactly how well it would settle in her stomach with a luscious cut of beef and raspberry vinaigrette drenched salad. She hadn't had much to eat today beside a yogurt and half a churro, neither very filling. She was nearly drooling over it when she ran into a thick white web, dropping some of the larger pieces in shock. She wiped them away in disgust and picked the wood hastily back up. She walked quickly back to the campsite that Megamind had set up, taking care not to run into anything else. There was a small fire going and some small, sturdy looking makeshift shelters crowded around it. She dumped the dry wood with the rest of the kindling and stared down the beach. Megamind lay almost sprawled on his unclasped cape, staring at the alien sky, a look of contemplation on his face. She had given him a good chewing out just before setting out to get fire wood. She was angry and more than a little scared when she said all those things to him. It was mostly true, but yelling at him while he was zoned out like that made her feel a tiny bit guilty. He had said something toward the end of their conversation that took her aback. Being alone would be worse. She got real nervous after that, realizing that even though she didn't want him around, it was better than dealing with this alone. This planet could be dangerous, and it had more than odd flora and fauna; the daylight cycle was weird too. Even though Megamind pointed out the light was dimming an hour and a half ago, it hadn't faded that much. Must be some sort of axis/rotation thing she figured. Her mind cycled back towards food when her stomach gave a complaining gurgle.

Minion came strolling along from the other side of the beach. He looked cheery as he came closer, quarry slung over one shoulder.

"Dinner," he announced, holding up a string of decent sized fish, "and water to wash it down," he handed her a large canteen. He set the fish on a nearby rock as he prepared to clean them. "It was clear running water so it's pretty safe," he told her as he cut open the underside of the first fish. She glimpsed an apologetic look cross his face as the blood pooled on the flat rock.

"Well if it has your seal of approval, it must be fine." She turned and set it in the shade of one of the shelters. Minion made a strange strangled sound suddenly, Roxanne spun around to see him wildly pointing at her, his eyes round in shock. "Miss. Ritchi! Don't move," he yelped, clumsily getting to his feet. Megamind was quicker, swatting the dinner plate sized insect away with a quick hand and crushing it beneath his heavy leather boot.

Roxanne was horrified by the slimy green mess Megamind was now scraping off on the side of a convenient tree. "Must have been from that web I bumped into earlier," She thought, crouching down for a closer look. The insect looked like a cross between a roach and a spider with huge furry fangs and misshapen joints. She cringed at the idea of it biting into her with those lethal talon-like fangs. "T- Thank you," she stammered.

"You're welcome, Miss. Ritchi," He nonchalantly said just before he crawled into the furthest sloped shelter from her, "and now if you could just stop causing a ruckus for a few moments, I would like to rest my eyes."

"Now see here," Roxanne shouted indignantly, but Megamind just rolled over and went to sleep. She fumed for a moment, entertaining thoughts of giving him a swift kick, but she promptly banished the idea. "There is no need for such violence," she internally scolded.

Roxanne sucked in a deep breath, releasing it as a heavy sigh. She turned to minion who had started on the next fish already, grim faced. "Want some help with that," she asked.

"That would be greatly appreciated, Miss. Ritchi," Minion answered, handing her a knife from a compartment in his chest cavity. They gutted in silence, small fly-like insects began to dive-bomb around their heads before long, like a tiny dog fight reenactment from WWII. The high pitched buzz of wings soon became too much for the duo, and they dumped the fish remnants in the water. Skewering the fish on sturdy sticks just above the fires licking flames, they washed the smell of fish from their hands in the ocean.

"Miss. Ritchi," Minion said suddenly, still splashing the now cooler water on his hands.

"Yes," she asked looking to Minion.

He bit his lip nervously, "I know that you are a little frustrated with Sir's - uhh - antics, but don't take it too seriously right now. If I know Sir, he is beating himself up for messing up and at the same time trying to still act the villain, so he's a tad more - grumpy than usual. He didn't mean for this to happen to us. The teleportation device wasn't even supposed to take us out of earth's atmosphere, let alone beyond our solar system. He's feeling more than just the sting of failure," Minion gave her soulful puppy dog eyes, "please try to understand."

Roxanne internally groaned. Who could possibly resist that little face? "I'll try to be more patient, but I do have a limit," She said seriously, "If I snap, I snap."

Minion's face lit up with enthusiasm, embracing her in a nearly bone crushing force, "Thank you so much, Miss. Ritchi! You won't regret it."

When the fish was done, Minion attempted to rouse Megamind for dinner, but the only reply he got was, "I'm not hungry." Minion shrugged helplessly at Roxanne.

Roxanne thought a moment, with her arms crossed. She looked between the two aliens before her. "You're going to let the food your friend painstakingly made for you go bad just because you are too busy moping," she stated.

"I'm not moping," Megamind said bluntly.

"Moping, self loathing, same difference," She shrugged.

"I am not," he stiffly replied, he sat up to glare at her, "I don't feel well."

She crawled over to him and laid a hand on his forehead, he nearly flinched away from her touch. Roxanne hid a wicked grin as she lightly moved her hands to his temples and rested her forehead on his. He completely froze. "Well there's no fever from what I can tell, your skin has it's normal healthy tone, and your eyes are clear and wide open," she removed herself from him, "I think you're being stubborn."

A light purple flush tinted his ears, "fine, give me the fish."

Minion handed him a skewered fish, which Megamind immediately took a large angry bite out of. He chewed with a bit more energy needed as he glowered at Roxanne, who daintily munched her own meal with a look of smugness.

Minion stole a glance between the two, wondering if they would ever make peace. There was a chance it could happen, but he wasn't going to hold his breath. He dropped a chunk of flesh into his tank and swallowed it whole.

After everyone had eaten, Megamind said, "You two need some rest. I'll stay up and keep watch." By this time the sun had finally set. The sky now showcased brilliant astronomical bodies besides the multiple small moons, of which the count had now risen to four.

"Well if you're sure," Roxanne yawned and crawled into 'bed', "good night everybody," she murmured falling sound asleep.

"If you need me just holler, Sir," Minion said, "Good night." He powered down, squeezing into a small castle that emerged from the depths of the suit and he too was soon asleep.

Megamind Stared up at the stars for a long time before picking out a few that he recognized. Though they were seen at a different angle, he singled out the one that he was searching for. It twinkled brightly, directly above him, almost mockingly. He made a resolve right then and there. He was going to fix the mess he created one way or another, or his name wasn't Megamind: Incredibly handsome criminal genius and master of all villainy!


	5. Creatures of the night

**Creatures of the night**

They smelled it long before they could see it. It was a delicious, absolutely intoxicating. Its scent promised the warmth and comfort of a full belly. With so many numbers it wasn't always an easy thing to achieve. The thought of it was just too much to resist. They moved as one between the trees, toes digging into the decaying foliage on the forest floor, propelling their lithe bodies faster. The smell became stronger suddenly as they neared the coast. It drove their hearts faster, beating in their chests like war drums as a great cry went up.

"Meat," they all chanted mindlessly. Their once tight formation spread out in a jumbled disarray as they snarled and hissed at clan members who dared come too close. The chant became a murderous babble as they saw the tell tale glow of a fire and shadows moving about it. The leader of this rabble uttered a thunderous growl, "Meat! Food thing! We come for you!"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Megamind was deeply disturbed by the inhuman screeches that began far off in the distance. Though unintelligible and primitive, it spoke of violence and hunger. When it grew notably louder, he moved to wake his companions.

"What on earth is that noise," Roxanne whispered when she fully woke, "it sounds like a horde of dying cats!"

A shriek rose above the rest, chilling all three to the bone.

"More like a hundred nails on a chalk board," Megamind commented.

"What do we do, Sir," Minion asked hovering at Megamind's side.

"Stoke the fire," Megamind ordered, "it needs to be brighter."

Roxanne and Minion set to work on the small fire with haste, and soon it was at a roar. Disturbing whoops and wails emitted from the thick underbrush. Many large red eyes gleamed in the gloom, pacing back and forth in an irate manner. The trio huddled closer to the fire as they warily watched. Minion clutched a large bough in his hands, poised to defend his master to the death.

The savage beasts began to grow impatient. They edged closer to the light darting about, showing off the outlines of their small hunched bodies, their action getting more and more frenzied. Megamind thought quickly of a way to make them more cautious of the campsite. They appeared to work as a pack, so he assumed that they would back off when a few of its members got hurt. He took up a good sized stone from beside the fire and hurled it at one of the shadowy figures, striking and felling it. The mob silenced, scuffling around the obviously injured animal that was making pathetic whines. Roxanne regarded the thin blue man for a moment; he was either way stronger than he looked or these creatures weren't that tough. If push came to shove, she was hoping for the later.

The quiet suddenly erupted into a deafening squabble. Megamind's stomach churned as he guessed why. The crunch of bones and the wet ripping sound of flesh didn't last long, thankfully. Soon they turned their focus back to their terrified prey. They found a new boldness with help from the blood on their tongues; coming further into the light despite the pain it caused their watery eyes. They needed more than that taste. They were so hungry. They couldn't wait much longer.

The wrinkly gray creatures stood before them like three foot tall, hairless jerboas with huge dilated eyes and long twitchy snouts much like a shrew's. A ridge of coarse bristled 'fur' ran down their back to the end of their long rat tails. Their saliva dripped red from their sharp teeth and the blood of their companion spattered their short, clawed paws and hypnotically twitching noses.

"I don't think that helped much, Sir," Minion whispered shrilly.

Megamind eyed the twenty or so creatures that slowly approached. "We're going to have to run for it," he said as he slowly moved into a crouch, "judging from their stance, I'm guessing they don't climb very well."

His eyes flickered to the tree line, quickly calculating the probability of not only getting to the tree but climbing it with enough haste. He figured their best chance of escape would be a tall, sturdy tree with long dangling vines and numerous, protruding knots that rested thirty feet away.

"When I say go, run as fast as you can to that big knobby tree, "he motion with his head.

Roxanne began searching for any sort of 'weapon' that she could feel in the powdery sand, never letting her eyes stray from the hideous rodents. She clutched a large, flat rock with white knuckles as she got ready.

"Go," he shouted. All three took off running to the left, swerving toward the water's edge to avoid the snapping of razor sharp jaws. Roxanne lagged behind, the sand slowing her progress. She soon had the animals snapping at her heels. Megamind slowed and grabbed her wrist, tugging her along faster. It seemed like forever before they were climbing the tree; Minion helped Megamind up into the branches and reached for Roxanne. One of the rodents grabbed a hold of the end her grey pencil skirt, slashing her leg and letting dark blood flow. She screamed and bashed it in the head with the side of her rock, stunning it. Minion pulled her up into the tree beside Megamind. Big painful tears welled up in her eyes and spilled out. It hurt like hell, but she was no wimp. She inspected the long jagged gash that started half way down the outside of her thigh and ended above her kneecap. She inhaled between her teeth as it throbbed and bled.

Megamind observed her quietly while Minion fussed over her. She was trying to be brave, and he admired her strength. The wound was deep and needed medical attention very soon. If it didn't it would certainly get infected in this Petri dish of a jungle, and then she would probably-. He didn't finish the thought, he couldn't. He glared down at the circling beasts, voraciously trying to scramble up the tree with their stumpy arms. Things certainly did not look good at the moment. He racked his beloved brain for an ingenious plan, but nothing came to him. He only wished that he hadn't lost his De-gun in the confusion of their arrival. Minion went back to search for it earlier, but it was nowhere to be found. It would have been so much more effective than throwing sticks and stones like some primordial monkey. He could have destroyed the little devils by now, avoiding Miss. Ritchi's injury in the first place.

Minion ripped Roxanne's elbow length sleeves off her white shirt and used them as bandages to stop the bleeding. She painfully leaned back against the tree's trunk when he was done and closed her eyes, clinging to the wide branch. It was going to be a very long night, and the rancid smell of these hairless vultures weren't going to help any with their morale.


	6. New in Towne

**New in Towne**

The rodents had fled just before the sky had lightened, with disappointment apparent in their angry shrieks. In the creatures wake an eerie silence buzzed in the air. Minion crept down first to check the premises. He gave Megamind the all clear after a while and went to help Roxanne down. She laid in the shade of the somehow untouched shelters, she was pretty out of it. She started shivering about the time the sun came over the trees behind them. She looked pale and clammy, and her breathing was fast and shallow. She was in big trouble if they didn't do something quick.

Heavy footsteps from behind called Megamind and Minion's attention, they spun around to meet the gaze of yet another rat creature but this one was different. This one was tall, at least six feet, and covered in short brown fur that looked soft and plush. His face wasn't as pointed and the nose didn't squirm as much. The eyes were smaller, more like shiny black buttons rather than watery saucers that sat atop round cheeks. He was clothed too; he wore a green-ish vest that was mostly pockets and a wrinkly fisherman's hat from which two large orange and yellow feathers stuck out. On one shoulder an old scruffy looking bag bulged with ropes and odd looking metal traps.

He cocked his head to the side taking in the sight of the disheveled strangers. They had had a hard night from the looks of it. The little pale female was sitting in the sand shaking, she smelled of blood. The blue one was trying to look menacing, but the big metal clad servant was the one he was worried about.

He cautiously approached and asked them gruffly, "Oi! Kwee quet o wert?"

The fish and the man exchanged a glance. The man spoke up, "um, do you happen to speak English?"

He nodded, "aye, that I do. And I was askin' what ye be, friend or foe?"

"Friend, if you aren't like those rodents we saw last night," He said as he stood more casually.

He smiled wryly, "Aye, that I'm most certainly not. What ye bumped into was a cousin o' mine. Nasty little things Razorbacks be. Attracted to the smell of blood, they are. By the looks of it your female got caught by one of 'em, aye?"

His ears flushed slightly as he stated firmly, "she's not mine. She belongs to no one."

"Beg your pardon, sir, I didn't intend nothin'. It's just strange happnin's to see a lovely little woman such as herself round these parts- unescorted. Best you keep her close, lest she gets snatched away by the big baddies."

"We'll keep that in mind."

"Best ye be, mister-?"

"Megamind, and this is Minion. The woman is Miss. Roxanne Ritchi. And you are?"

"Amudd De'Wart, at ye service," he shook Megamind's and Minion's hands, "but just call me Wart, everyone else does. Now let's see what the damage be, shall we?"

Wart shuffled over to Roxanne slowly. He check her pulse, raised her eyelid to look in her eye, looked at her tongue, and sniff at the make shift bandage.

Wart frowned as he faced Megamind and Minion, "well I got some good news and some bad news. The good news is she didn't get bit. They got some right nasty bugs in their chops that would have killed her. The bad news is she got the wrong end of them claws, and they be nearly as bad. She'll start havin' the walkin' dreams before long."

"Walking dreams," Minion parroted.

"Hallucinations from the fever," Megamind explained.

Wart gingerly picked up Roxanne, passing her to Minion, "yes and no. The fever plays a part, but Razorback talon is pretty much poison. She'll be babbling like a wild Poff before long. She'll be dead at sunset if she ain't treated. Best we get a move on, the compound isn't far now."

The odd troop tromped off into the jungle, following Wart's acute nose. Its twitch reminded Megamind of those creatures.

"So Wart," Megamind said breathily, "you said Razorbacks were attracted to the smell of blood, but how do you repel them?"

Wart thought a moment, "Tar plant oil is said to give 'em a hard time, the fumes hurt their noses. But as long as there's some blood scent there, they'll come in swarms. Sunlight is the only fail safe."

Megamind's thoughts wandered to the fish and the spider. That might have done it he thought grimly.

When they came to the settlement Wart spoke of, they were met with a very long ten foot tall fence made of thick sharp stakes, some adorned with skulls and bones of assorted size. Minion shuttered at the amount of fish bones that were mixed in with the remnants of other animals scattered around the outside of the walls. The sounds of a busy town floated to them beyond the barrier. Curious guards poked their head over the fence as they approached the gate.

"Who goes there!" piped a voice from behind the door.

"De'Wart here, back from the southern beaches. Found some strangers squatting on the coastline. One's hurt pretty badly, she needs a doctor. They mean no harm, they aren't Old Towne material."

A panel at Megamind's eye level opened and two large yellow eyes squinted at him and the others.

"An Azureian," the gate keeper's eyes widened at Megamind, "don't see many of you around here anymore-and what it _that_?"

Wart looked over to Roxanne, "don't rightly know, looks like a Glaupunk. Not enough muscle though, could be a new species. "

The guards yellow eyes narrowed at Minion, "we'll see how harmless they are when the council deliberates their status. You are to report tomorrow morning to the great hall, travelers. Enter De'Wart and company!"

The gates slowly swung open with a labored groan. Clinging to the inside of the door was a two foot tall toad like man, with brown lumpy skin that sagged and a metal helmet that was slightly too large for his head so that it leaned to the side. He wore a gray animal skin shirt and scruffy brown slacks, bone plate armor festooned his chest.

"Well? Get going," he piped when only Wart stepped through the gates, "I haven't got all day!"

They went through the first gate and the second inner gate, finding themselves in a busy market place. There were aliens of all colors, shapes, sizes, and locomotion that were buying, selling, hustling, bustling, bargaining, bartering, and basically going about their daily business. Megamind noticed the buyers and sellers were flashing colored cards of some sort with the addition of varied coinage. A few paused and stared curiously at the new comers, most were too immersed in the dealings that went on underneath the brightly colored cloth awnings.

Wart lead them away from the hustle and bustle, down narrow dirt roads to a squat little house with a bench and a strange sign out front. They ducked inside the dark house that smelled of sweet incense and smoke. Candles burned in bottles of all kinds, dimly lighting the front room.

"Oi, Doc," Wart called out, "Dr. Tim! I got a sickly person here."

A thin grey man peeped around the corner of a door way. His head was large in comparison to his bony frame, and seemingly even larger were his deep black eyes. His small, thin mouth pinched together as he 'spoke', "I know Wart; you don't need to shout so. I felt you coming from around the corner. Who are your friends?"

Megamind, though unsettled by his telepathy, introduced himself as well as Minion and Roxanne. Dr. Tim nodded and his eyes trailed to Roxanne who was now lying on one of the medical cots mumbling.

"A Homo Sapien, how peculiar a sight," Dr. Tim declared, "then again there are all kinds here."

"You know of her species," Megamind inquired.

Dr. Tim smiled fondly, "oh yes, my people have been studying these beings for many thousands of years. Such an interesting people."

Dr. Tim set to work undoing the bandage on Roxanne's leg. The wound was red and some puss was starting to leak from it. She moaned loudly in discomfort as he began pouring a foul smelling yellow liquid over the wound and began to stitch it up carefully with a large hooked needle.

"What is that liquid," Minion asked frowning pointedly.

Dr. Tim smiled guardedly, "it's effective as an improvised antiseptic, but it isn't a very fun job collecting it."

Minion frowned further, "that didn't answer my question."

"And you don't want to know, little fish," Dr. Tim said gravely, "I wish we had something better, but it's the best we've got."

There were no more questions while he smeared a green minty paste onto the wound and layered it in a strange turquoise grass, finally wrapping it in fresh bandages. He shambled over to the shelves at the back of the room that were packed with vials and jars of assorted herbs and ground substances. He chose a few with nimble fingers, sprinkling pinches of them in a mortar and grinding them with the pestle. He dumped the crushed contents into a clay cup and poured warm water into it from a steaming kettle that was setting on a small potbellied stove, letting it steep and turn dark green. He shambled back with the cup in hand and sat very carefully on the bedside. She was shaking worse now and coated in sweat. The doctor raised her head from the pillow and held the cup to her lips. She spluttered and coughed as the liquid passed her lips.

"No! What are you doing! I don't want to drown," Roxanne flailed her arms at Dr. Tim. He quickly set the cup down and tried to calm her. She continued to struggle and scream, "Help! It's gonna eat me! My leg is on fire! Oh, it burns! They've got me, it's biting me! Please help me! Megamind!"

Megamind maneuvered around the doctor who was now standing back. He grabbed hold of her thrashing wrists and brought them underneath her chin. "Miss. Ritchi," he said calmly, "can you hear me? I need you to get a hold of yourself. Do you understand? Roxanne?"

Roxanne's eyes flashed open; they were wild and scared. Her hair was plastered to her head from sweat, "Megamind…"

He held up the cup, "I need you to drink this Miss. Ritchi, can you do that?"

She nodded numbly, and took a sip from it cringing, "tastes like mud. Why's the balloon giving me mud?" She pointed at the doctor, "everyone knows that teeth taste like bubblegum."

Megamind blinked at that comment, unable to make sense of it. Dr. Tim said it was part of the effects of hallucination. He asked Megamind to get her to drink the rest of the medicine and keep talking to her so she wouldn't think that much about the aches.

Megamind did, and let her blather on about nothing in particular, before she suddenly stopped mid-sentence and closed her eyes. Megamind looked at her peaceful face, finally relaxed and without worry. He brushed a tuft of hair behind her ear tenderly, thankful that she wasn't in pain any more.

He got up to leave and just before he left he barely heard her murmur sleepily, "You're my favorite color, you know."

He smiled sheepishly and whispered, "How could I not be. I _am_ devilishly handsome." But his remark fell on deaf ears, Roxanne had fallen asleep already. He smiled wryly and left to keep Minion company.

The day wore on with a constant thrum of activity. Wart had long since left to go set his traps. The doctor tended to walk in patients now and then as Minion assisted him. Megamind left with nothing to do, fidgeted and paced. His brain was a never ending whir of activity; he was not one for idleness. Dr. Tim suggested he go for a walk to get to know the town better rather than wear a hole in the stone floor. Minion wanted to come too, but Megamind ordered him to stay behind to keep an eye on Miss. Ritchi.

Megamind opened the door and stepped into the still busy street. Carts drawn by strange wooly creatures passed by in the streets along with the foot traffic. It made the air to be hot and dusty along main roads. Megamind took his time meandering along the avenues, listening to the different dialects and checking out the wares that some sold. One particular street vendor was very adamant about his job. He looked like a near toothless skeleton with red leather pulled over him. He sold stone and shell pendants from the small rack that was strapped to his chest.

"Hey there new comer," The red man said friendly, "you look like you're a bit down on your luck."

"Not really," Megamind said walking away.

"Well even if you aren't, my charms are guaranteed to increase your good fortune tenfold!"

"Good for you. Then you can keep them," he walked more quickly.

"Don't be like that friend; I'm selling them real cheap, half off. What do you say?"

"Not interested."

"Oh come on now-," the red man was taken up by the collar of his long tunic by a guard. The guard spoke harshly, "What do you think you're doing scum?"

"Selling my wares of course, sir," the peddler answered meekly, "is there a problem?"

"Word is that you're pushing more than jewelry, Bub," the guard dumped the pendants on the ground and removed the false bottom to reveal many vials of clear liquid tuck into little holders, "Looks like the word was right. Come with us, poison dealer."

Several citizens cheered the guard as he hauled the squirming man away. Megamind was glad to not be caught up in that mess as he continued on his way.

It was long into the afternoon when he heard a hoarse sounding trumpet at the front of the gate. The Market got a little quieter as if listening to the mournful sound before returning to the normal buzz. A constant stream of men started to pour through the gate moments later, all with loads of some sort. The Market was suddenly much more rambunctious, he found himself being jostled this way and that by a flurry of action. Somehow Wart spotted him pressed against a vendors fruit stall, and he tugged Megamind back toward the doctors.

Wart had a bag full of brown paper covered items on his shoulder and a smile on his face when he entered the doctor's office. "We'll eat like king tonight," he chuckled.

"Don't bring that in here," Dr. Tim exclaimed, "take it to the kitchen! Raw food has no place in here."

Minion and Wart prepared dinner in the kitchen, it seemed like the two were becoming fast friends. As it began to darken outside, the streets suddenly became still. The market closed up for the night, guards began their rounds, and soft rodent shrieks echoed throughout the village.

Roxanne was still unconscious when Megamind entered the recovery room, and Dr. Tim was diligently checking and redressing her wound.

He looked up from her when Megamind spoke, "It looks much better,"

Dr. Tim nodded slowly, "The infection is under control, but she is still fighting it. The only thing we can do now is wait." He got up slowly and ambled away, "come now, dinner is done."


	7. Awakening

_This is a last minute change to the pre-planned outline, it made the story flow a little better (filled in a big time transition gap too) =P._

_Please enjoy! 3_

**Awakening**

Roxanne knew she was dreaming but it was one of the better dreams. She was reliving a few of her kidnappings. Most people would call it a nightmare, but she found it amusing. The grand shows he would put on, the evil chortles, the horribly failing plots, the extreme facial expressions. She started making up her own rules after a while. Walking around free of the ropes that usually held her, replaying his ecstatic grin like it was recorded. Then she caught herself wondering, who is this flamboyant man that she has spent more time with than any other. She knew everything and yet nothing, if that was possible.

The dream suddenly turned into a nightmare as she was sucked through the floor and started to fall through shadows that lurched at her with wide grins. One finally caught her, it transformed into a cold white statue of none other than Metro Man. But it only looked like him, the presence was different, his eyes were hard and angry as he spoke, "the villain doesn't get the girl."

The angry statue dropped her into the abyss below and she was swallowed by hungry shadows.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Roxanne awoke to a grumbling stomach and a splitting headache. Her left leg felt heavy and there was a strange pulling sensation beneath the new bandage. She was wearing different clothing than she remembered, a long white tunic with drawstring waist band and long white sweat pants. Who had changed her clothes? She looked around the strange dim room; there were six other cots neatly made and a shelf full of small pots and jars.

Roxanne thought hard to remember what had happened. She dimly recalled being carried from the beach by Minion and some fuzzy mouse guy leading them to a bone gate. After that things started getting blurry and dream like. Her senses felt like they were wrapped in warm cotton and the only thing she was really aware of was Minion's arms and the back of Megamind's head for a long while, then a gray balloon headed guy came in. He seemed to bob and float about the room slowly as she was laid on the hard bed. It started prodding at her leg and tried to force a thick bitter liquid down her throat. She couldn't think clearly, her leg hurt so badly if felt like those rats were still gnawing on it, or more like wasps in her skin. She tried to physically push the phantom creatures away, but to no avail.

She wanted- needed something familiar right now, "Megamind!"

And suddenly he was there, He had his hands firmly around her wrists but the gesture was as gentle and persuading as his low voice. He was urging her to drink that sludge, she shuttered as she did. She thought back to her childhood days and compared it to when all the medicine tasted like nasty overly flavored 'bubblegum', she tried to make a joke about it, but her brain and mouth weren't cooperating today. It sounded logical to her but the way Megamind's face contorted told her otherwise. Balloon head wobbled away after a while with Minion, leaving Megamind and her alone. She had tried apologizing for the bad joke but, she kept getting distracted. Before she knew it she was watching the little floaty things that drift around in your eye that you can see sometimes but not others. She didn't realize it at the time but she had been describing what was going through her mind out loud in a way she could only describe as a pothead's perspective.

"Woo, look at 'em go," an echo of the delusional Roxanne drifted to her, "Chasing eye floaties is better than watching dog races. Wee!"

Her eyes grew wide with realization. She did not say that… did she? Had Megamind seen the dignified, sure headed Roxanne Ritchi high as a kite (in a manner of speaking)? The panic only lasted seconds before she gave herself a mental slap. So what if he did see her like that? She couldn't help it. She was sick as a dog, and if anyone had anything to say about she would give them a piece of her mind. She bolted up and swung her legs over the side of the bed.

"Bad move," her headache screamed at her.

She wedged her head between her knees to stop the world from spinning and waited for the painful head rush to pass. Once she hesitantly lifted her head again, she realized her mouth was bone dry and her belly button was getting very well acquainted to her backbone. She felt very weak and shaky, but she needed sustenance _ASAP_!

She stumbled to the doorway that lead to the next room. Peering around it she saw a thin gray man with a huge head and large black eyes wrapping the injured arm of a bulky stooped troll looking being in bandages. She froze; he looked oddly familiar. When he turned sideways he was nearly thin as a - length of string. The balloon-headed guy? If he was tending someone's injury he couldn't be all bad, right? For some reason she wanted to say his name was Timmy, or was it Tommy? Thompson?

Megamind interrupted her thoughts as her came through a side door, "Dr. Tim, I finished the repairs on your generator. There wasn't much to work with but it works great now." Roxanne heard no sound from the alien, but Megamind seemed to listen to something and nod, then he jumped as if in surprise turning to see Roxanne half hidden in the door way. He had black grease smears on his face and his cloths showed signs of wear.

"Ro- I mean, Miss. Ritchi," he rushed over all exited looking her up and down as if she was a living miracle.

"Wow, what happened? I go to sleep for a few hours and you act as if I was dead," Roxanne said sarcastically, inconspicuously clinging to the doorjamb for support.

Megamind's face fell, and he was suddenly very serious, "Miss. Ritchi, it's been much longer than a night. You've been in a coma for over a week now."


	8. Catching up

_Okay so here it is at long last! The very long Chapter 8, with which I have labored over whilst trying to balance out daily drama and procrastination… (Curse you temptation!)... so get ready for a big old heap of explanation. =)_

**Catching up**

Minion rushed out of the kitchen with a heaping plate of what looked like beef and purple mashed potatoes and set it before Roxanne, who pounced upon it the moment it was laid on the table. A glass of water accompanied the food and she took turns gulping water and scarfing down food. Megamind and Minion sat quietly for a moment as she demolished half the plate. She took notice of their silence and looked up, wiping her mouth slowly.

She cleared her throat, "Feel like I haven't eaten in forever."

Minion spoke up, "Dr. Tim- attended to your nutritional needs as best he could, but I'm guessing it wasn't very filling. When he said you were comatose on the second day, it scared Sir and I half to death."

Megamind looked down at his dusty boots. He wasn't wearing his usual leather suit, it was replaced by a muddy white button up shirt pushed up to his elbows and a tight pair of black pinstripe pants with lots of pockets and buttons. He looked like a Steampunk engineer with the brass goggles around his neck and the brown leather work apron full of tools. He looked tired, dirty and slightly sweaty.

"So what happened while I was out? Anything interesting," Roxanne inquired.

Minion and Megamind exchanged a knowing glance. "What do you recollect, Miss. Ritchi," Minion asked.

She thought a moment, giving them the hazy overview of what she could remember. Megamind nodded and he and Minion began to fill her in on what had happened.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Dinner was a slightly busy event. There was Megamind, Minion, Dr. Tim, Wart, and two new comers all crowded around the table with a mishmash of chairs and plates piled with food. The guests were apparently Dr. Tim's son and daughter in law, Mr. and Mrs. Tim, which got confusing since they apparently didn't have first names. They all looked pretty much the same except for minor differences. The two younger beings had smooth, shiny skin that had a greenish tint and had slightly swollen abdomens indicating they were clearly pregnant. Mr. Tim explained to Megamind and Minion that this was because his species were neither male nor female; it was more of a preference in marital title, which they picked up from other species. In a sense the babies would essentially be twins carried by separate parents.

Minion got along famously with Mrs. Tim, sharing recipes and household tips. Megamind listened in on the conversation between 'Father' and 'son'. Evidently Mr. Tim was a mechanic across town that mostly dealt with generators and engines, but also tinkered with anything from locks to clocks.

"It's been getting pretty busy lately, and I'm not in the best condition to run around Towne right now," Mr. Tim sighed.

"Well you need a helper then. Megamind here is handy with a wrench, I bet." Dr. Tim patted him on the back, "Azureians are renowned for their cunning."

Mr. Tim nodded and looked to him, "Well Mr. Megamind? What do you think?"

Megamind smiled wryly, "Sounds better than sitting around here. When do I start?"

"I just need to see your card and we're all set," Mr. Tim said.

"Card," Megamind questioned, "what card?"

"Why, your citizenship card. Everyone needs one to do anything here."

"We're new here. Wart brought us here this morning to get Miss. Ritchi's wound taken care of."

"You had better get it done quickly, the guards will have no mercy on you if they find out you don't have a card."

"And how does one acquire a card?"

"You have to be cleared by the Council Members and go through the card registration process. It's really time consuming. The gate keeper did tell you to go to the great hall, right?"

"Yes, but he allowed us to get Miss. Ritchi taken care of first."

"Very kind of him, but get that citizenship square away first thing in the morning or risk getting thrown in prison."

Megamind was about to gloat about being an escape artist, but thought against it. Having gone to prison as many times as he had would not look good on his record. Having 88 life sentences wouldn't help either.

"No, I wouldn't want that. So first thing tomorrow, right Minion?"

Minion looked up from his own conversation, "Hu? Oh, right, Sir!"

After dinner Mr. Tim and his 'wife' left for home. The patrolling Guards eyeing them as they hurried through the darkened streets. Megamind peeked in at the sleeping form of Roxanne. She hadn't moved an inch since she fell asleep; she had this blissful expression across her face. Megamind smiled and crept to the spare room that he and Minion now shared. Minion was already powered down in the corner, snuggled safe and sound in his little castle somewhere in the chest cavity. Megamind shed his body suit and climbed into bed in his boxer shorts.

"Good night, Minion," he sighed, and rolled over to sleep.

When the first light of morning came, Megamind was waiting for it. He was still curled beneath the sheets, trying to convince himself to roll out of bed. He'd gotten a few hours sleep, nothing that wasn't normal, but he'd had a strange dream.

Roxanne was standing among a circle of shadowed figures. She looked out of place and more fragile than he'd ever see her before. The figures were whispering among themselves, snide comments and insults hissed through the crowd. She looked like she was on the verge of tears when Megamind tried to run to protect her, but the faster he ran the further away she seemed. Before he knew it, she was a spec in the distance and he fell to his knees in exhaustion.

He heard Minion stir in his suit, and decided to get up and get dressed. Dr. Tim was already up, sipping tea and reading a news paper in a foreign dialect. Wart had made green eggs and sausage, which tasted like any other egg but slightly saltier.

"So Megamind, do you plan to see the council in a torn suit," Dr. Tim inquired.

Megamind looked to see several rips along his right sleeve showing blue skin. He reasoned that it must have happened in the desperate scramble up the tree the night they arrived.

"Don't worry my friend," Dr. Tim said, "I've have some spare clothes that will probably fit. Come."

He shuffled to his room with Megamind following behind. The Doctor's room was very neat, not a book out of place nor a wrinkle in the sheets. Dr. Tim reached up to the top self and pulled down an old carrying case with many pairs of clothes. He gave them to Megamind to try on and they fit like a glove. He wore a long sleeved dark blue shirt with a black vest and black pants with silver buttons.

Dr. Tim smiled sadly, "They were my eldest son's cloths. It's been a long time since they've seen use."

"What happened to him," Megamind asked cautiously.

His eyes seemed to focus on something far away, "He was taken by slave traders, five years ago. For all I know he's dead, but I still have hope that he's alive out there."

Megamind nodded solemnly, he somehow felt he was intruding by wearing the clothes, but Dr. Tim insisted.

"They're just gathering dust in there," he had said.

The great hall was a tall white marble building with spiraling columns guarded by twin statues of some ferocious fanged beasts. Two heavy set guards stood watch at the grandly craved doors.

"State your business," One said with a voice like gravel.

"Were here to see the grand council," Megamind said firmly.

"On what business," the other rasped.

"Citizenship," Megamind answered.

One guard gave him a harsh look before knocking on the door, moments passed and a thin, short man with a pig snout answered the door.

"Yes," he asked boredly.

"These two need to see the council for citizenship passes."

The thin piggy man sighed exasperatedly, "this way, if you will."

He led them to an empty waiting room and told them to wait there before disappearing behind a set of doors on the other side of the room. The room was very classy; high painted ceilings, more spiraling columns, colorful potted plants, and many plush chairs with oddly carved legs. The ceiling mural portrayed a battle between a snake with many legs and the same beast as the statues depicted; some sort of lion headed boar. The legs of the chairs all looked like different types of feet, which were eerily realistic. He could almost imagine them prancing about.

Half an hour pasted before the piggy man came back, "This way, please."

Megamind and Minion got up but, but the piggy man said only one at a time. Megamind went first giving Minion a reassuring pat, and followed quietly into a darkened room that looked much like an arena with a lighted podium in the center. Megamind stepped into the spot light and looked up. Some men entered the room, all in long black hooded robes. They all looked very old, the one's that looked like Dr. Tim, very much so, especially the one with the milky blind eyes. There were many different kinds including an Azureian, like himself.

The bailiff entered through a door under the tall wooden benches. "All rise for the honorable Chairman Glak," he bellowed.

They all rose from their seats and held their fists to their hearts. A tiny hunched man painfully slowly hobbled to the highest bench, assisted by a twisted cane. He had huge hairy bat ears that where as large as his body was, a funny looking five nostriled 'nose' that flared constantly, a long white fu manchu and so many deep wrinkles that Megamind wouldn't be surprised if there was another dimension somewhere in there.

He sat slowly with a sigh of relief. The others followed and looked to Megamind. Glak took up the flat stone gavel and pounded it on the bench thrice, "The deliberation of one - Mr. Megamind has now come to order. You come here on what charges?"

Megamind swallowed, "Um, pardon me, Sir?"

"Charges, son. What was it? Theft, battery, assault, murder… you were charged with something, were you not," One member asked gruffly.

Megamind's face contorted while he tried to process what was going on.

"Oh dear," chairman Glak said softly, "he did not arrive in the normal fashion, gentlemen. This man teleported to this place."

A murmur went up around the room.

"Why on earth would he want to do that," one of the council members demanded, "everyone wants to get away from here, not break in."

"He could be a spy! Don't let on to anything," another said.

"Maybe he can lead us out," added a third, "if he got in he might be able to get out."

Megamind looked questioningly at the chairman, a million questions racing through his brain. Megamind concluded that the chairman must be able to read his thoughts if he deduced this much from a look. Glak burst out laughing after a moment, the council fell silent as he hooted with laughter.

"Goodness, poor lad," he huffed as the giggles subsided, "I do apologize for the outburst, but oh the irony of it all!" He chortled some more before a wheezing cough rattled him.

"The irony, Mr. Chairman?"

"Yes, that you of all people would pick up our signal, and have no idea where or why you are here."

"Could you explain what's going on?"

"In a moment son, first the deliberation, otherwise you would be considered a breach in security. Now, do we have your consent to witness the last 72 hours before your arrival to sector 3-4447?" Megamind cautiously agreed. He didn't like the sound of this witnessing business.

"Council members, if you please," he held out his hands to the robed beings on either side of him and all fifteen individuals gasped hands in a large semi-circle around Megamind. They closed their eyes and hummed in concentration. Glak's ears fluttered like fuzzy wings, dipping and twitching in all directions. The light above Megamind brightened suddenly and he felt like cold fingers were prodding around in his precious brain and a buzz filled his ears. An instant replay of the chain of events that lead up to arriving here flashed by in his brain at high speeds, as did some of the headlines he featured in recently.

The mental intrusion ceased, and the group relinquished their neighbors' hands. Megamind shook the feelings of exposure off and nervously straightened his black vest. There was a silence in the room so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Chairman Glak abruptly spoke, "your findings friends?"

There was a low hum of voices for a time before the first person spoke up.

A slender, lilac female with a long flat head and purple freckles to Glak's right stood, "Though he has been classified as a dangerous man, we of the Agricultural Guild find this man harmless to our existence."

A burly red furred man with four arms and two large tusks jumped up ferociously, "Harmless? This man has a history of malicious intent! A man like him doesn't belong here."

"Captain, you can hardly call his plots life threatening. His single foe was a Glaupunkian, the only thing they die of is old age and black holes," one of the old Greys hissed, "He was just irritatingly stubborn more than anything else. That's just the way of the Azure, isn't that right Roux? "

The old white bearded Azureian to whom he was referring furrowed his brow, "Stereotypes are not welcome in this court," he hissed venomously.

"Order," Glak commanded, "Order please! If you can't speak civilly then refrain from doing so. I recommend a quick recess in which I would ask you to deliberate among your guilds so we can come to a decent verdict." The gavel was hammered twice and the court dispersed in groups of three.

Megamind was sent into the waiting room where Minion sat nervously.

"How goes it, Sir," Minion asked hopefully

"I have a few on my side, but it seems the Capitan of the Guards is against me."

"Don't you worry, Sir. I'm sure it's fine," Minion grinned.

They sat and chatted for half an hour before the piggy man called Megamind back to the court room. The council was seated again as he went back up to the podium. All eyes were on him as the Chairman asked for their final verdict.

The first to stand was the group to the far right, Roux spoke for them, "We of the Science and Technologies Society find him acceptable. His intellect and knowledge base would be a huge advantage to our cause."

They sat and the next group stood the same purple woman speaking for them, "Our verdict has not been swayed, the Agricultural Guild welcomes him."

The Capitan stood after, staring down his nose at Megamind, "The Towne Guardians are stead fast in their previous answer, Sir."

A portly yellow toad man precariously stood, a greased up toupee perched like raven on his head, "We of the economic and public affairs committee have some concerns about the future actions of Mr. Megamind," He said in a high nasally voice that reminded Megamind of that old Marvin Martian cartoon, "however, at this time we have concluded that his presence in our community is more of an asset than a liability at present. We cautiously accept his arrival to our peaceful Towne."

Chairman Glak listened to the Council's decision with hands folded neatly on the desk. He nodded when they had finished their short speeches, he turned to the old blind Gray beside him and whispered something, getting a nod and a strange hand signal in return. He turned to a tall shabby bird man beside him who listened to his whispering and softly clacked his chipped beak in return.

Glak turned to Megamind, standing up as straight as is gnarled back would allow, "Mr. Megamind, we of the high council have listened to our peers and have concluded that you are eligible for citizenship," Megamind sighed in relief, "however in exchange for this we ask that you work with the President of the Science Society on a little 'pet project' of his."

Roux stood quickly, worry tingeing his words, "Forgive me for questioning your judgment, but would that be wise, Sir?"

"You said it yourself Mr. DuPont, he could be a great help."

"Yes, Sir," Roux answered ask he slowly sat.

"Thank you ladies and gentlemen. This session has now concluded," he banged the gavel a few times, "Please follow the bailiff to the next room, Mr. Megamind. Mr. DuPont will accompany you shortly."

Chairman Glak beckoned forth the next case which Megamind knew was Minion, but he was ushered through the door beneath the tall benches before he appeared. He knew Minion would be fine, he had a pretty clean slate besides assisting him in his 'evil' schemes.

The dark wooden door closed behind Megamind and he was now in a smaller waiting that was much less grand than the first. There was a lot of dark wood paneling making the room seem even smaller, and a pale thin youth with long eyestalks and no neck leaned boredly against the counter that separated the room in two. She was wearing a gutsy green dress that left her cleavage all but ready to spring out at him.

"Well hello there handsome," she said in a high girly voice, her eyes swaying to and fro, "Please sign these forms and we can get started."

She winked at him. He took the clipboard with the three forms attached and a pen from her clawed paw he glanced down at the words. It was a strange cuneiform writing with which he was unfamiliar. He reluctantly turned back to the desk.

"Pardon me madam, but do you have one of these in English?"

She brayed with laughter, "Oh silly me, did I do that? How embarrassing! There you go handsome," Megamind cringed at the feel of her clammy hand brushing against his as he handed her the other form, "call me if you need anything at all."

She gave him a shark toothed smile as he sat in the farthest corner near an old lamp. Megamind wasn't sure what creeped him out worse; her laugh, her snail eyes, or the way she was leering at him. Megamind concentrated purposefully on the questions the document asked, making it top priority to ignore the desk clerk. He was nearly done when Minion was ushered through the door and he stepped up to the clerk, who looked him up and down before sliding the clip board over to him slowly and biting her lip

"I bet you have all sorts of neat _gadgets_ in there," she said leaning over the desk, "would you mind showing me some time?"

"Uh- I- I- No, I'm sorry, umm," Minion stammered, backing away and finding a seat next to Megamind. He looked at Megamind with wide eyes communicating silently how displeased he was at being verbally assaulted. Megamind nodded in understanding and he impatiently waited for Minion to finish his paper work. They turned it in and she said they could move on to the next room.

"Toodaloo, you two. Come on by sometime and see me."

The two friends practically ran for the door, which lead them to a small room with a monitor, a camera, a back drop, and a bulky piece of equipment that looked like an old copy machine. An orange being that was mostly mouth and stomach looked between the two.

"Is Drezelda that bad today," he asked humor thick in his voice, "a real man eater isn't she?"

He croaked a guffaw and turned to his monitor screen, placing small spectacles on his wide nose. He took down pretty much the same information the form asked for and took their pictures and fingerprints. The giant printer slowly warmed up and printed out two IDs, both cream colored and laminated.

"Now hang on to these boy's, without your cards the guards have the right to do with you as they wish."

"We will sir, thank you." Minion said as he and Megamind made their way out.

Roux was waiting for him at the same door they entered, now dressed in a sharp looking navy coat and matching pants. Grandly shaking his and Minion's hand introducing himself formally. He asked Minion if he could borrow Megamind for a while and swept him away. Roux didn't say much as he walked at a break neck pace through the streets, stopping only when they reached a stone observatory.

"Could you please explain what's going on now Mr. DuPont," Megamind asked as he entered his domicile.

Two fish that looked much like Minion in sleek white suits looked up from scrubbing the stone floor. One was mud brown the other clay red.

"Sir! Your home," one sang happily, "and you've brought a guest, how lovely."

"Lady DuPont is in the kitchen with Jade and Zar, they have a lovely lunch prepared, Sir," the other sang.

"That won't be necessary right now," Roux said gently, "my guest and I have some important matters to discuss in my study."

The two fish bowed and continued to scrub the floor, humming tunelessly.

They entered this book lined study and Roux settled himself in a high back red velvet chair behind his desk, Megamind took a seat in the smaller chair opposite him. Roux looked regal and important as he folded his hands on the desk. He examined Megamind with carful, all seeing orange eyes.

"The Chairman told me that from what he saw, you were not aware of the interplanetary coalition. You are from a planet called Earth, correct?"

Megamind nodded

"Do you know of our planets destruction?"

Megamind nodded again, "I was eight days old at the time. I was sent away in an escape pod just as the black hole destroyed the whole planet."

"Ah, so that's what happened to it. I was wondering what happened to my work."

"Your work, ?"

He smiled sadly, "it's why my family was condemned here on this god awful planet."

"Excuse me for being blunt, but could you explain what the deal is with this place? I haven't gotten one straight answer all day, just tell me what's going on," Megamind raised his voice.

Roux sat back slowly, considering his impatient demand. "This place," he began slowly, "is a prison for the members of society that are deemed unwanted and deserve to be exiled completely. Needless to say there are a fair few that are innocent of the charges placed upon them because of the corruption the Asuki have brought to the judicial system. They own the court rooms, and if you need to be gotten rid of you're either carted off to the gallows or sent here. Asuki are warmongers with an insasiable taste for blood and conquest. Whenever they come across a weaker planet they capture it, take any useful technology, take its resources, capture slaves and move on. Our planet withstood capture for a very long time because of the technologies we could produce, but we lost eventually. The commander of the Asuki forces commended us on a battle well fought, and spared our planet so we could build his people wonderful new machines. We resisted, but after they took away our interplanetary transports, we couldn't do much. For five years they occupied our planet before we started to organize a revolt. We secretly planed new weapons and ships that would obliterate the puny one's we had them oohing and ahing over, building them was much more difficult though. They had regular inspections of all the warehouses and kept close tabs on all the materials ordered. After building and testing a small proto type of the propulsion and life support system, we made large scale crafts with weapons to rival that of ten Asuki cruisers. We were forced to build underground bunkers to conceal our steadily growing fleet. My wife, a coworker and I were caught smuggling supplies to one of these bunkers. We convinced them that we didn't know where the supplies were going, but not before my coworker was tortured to death. We kept our silence in order to protect the hundreds of people working to save our race; and in return for our loyalty the Asuki sent my pregnant wife, my young son, our minions and I to waste away on the hostile planet, sector 3-4447. At the time there was only one village. A sleazy pit they called Towne, which was the only protection from the beasts of night, but it was full of the scum of the universe. A small group of people came together and set out to make a safer place to dwell. We followed them into the jungle and helped them build the peaceful village that we now know as New Towne. The original founders came together and formed a sort of government, allowing in only the people who's crimes were falsified or weren't severe enough to be shunned from our society. After fifteen years we had a thriving town full of hundreds of species from all across the charts. New comers would bring news of the 'war' that was going on up there, between the Asuki and everyone else. You would think that with so many races with interplanetary travel capabilities we would at least over whelm them in sheer number, but the Asuki's population was expanding exponentially every day."

Roux paused, he was slightly shaking. When Megamind saw his narrowed eyes, he knew it was from rage.

His voice was deep and angry when he continued, "One day seven men came into town battered and bruised, most wearing uniforms of service. They had been chased down by a swarm of razorbacks numbering in the thousands, and out of the seventy-two that arrived only those seven survived. Three of those men died that night from blood loss and numorous Razorback bites. I heard from one of those men that the Azureians had finally risen up, taking a large chunk out of the Asuki war fleet before being smote by a new toy they had picked up from yet another dominated race; a ray gun that made small black holes. It had sucked in the entire Glaupunk quadrant in only a few hours before collapsing in on itself. Luckily for everyone else they lost the one and only gun and the ship that carried it to the very black hole it created. After that tragic day, I vowed I would avenge my race and start it a new, but to do that I would have to escape from this place first. Despite the illusion of freedom we have here, we are being watched by Asuki outposts on several of our moons and yearly inspections check for trace radiation signatures from anything more advanced than what they allow. I started planning escape routes, ruling out a ship immediately since they would destroy it the moment it left the atmosphere. Then I thought, why not a teleportation device? They can't see or shoot down particulate matter hurtling through space, so I went to work scavenging whatever I could with the help of my two boys and a few close friends. Progress was slow going since Old Towne was a little faster at picking up prisoner pod scraps than we were. I thought I had it done a few days ago, so I flicked the switch and sent a fruit through to test it. The device overheated and blew out most of its hardware, but just before it did it connected to a signal of some kind. I'm thinking since you might have been teleporting at that time with a similar signal, I somehow intercepted your destination and you came here, or close enough, just before my machine short-circuited. I was thinking about that ever since the meeting and I want you to know how sorry I am for getting you into this mess."

Megamind got a crazy grin on his face, a soft chuckle bubbled in his throat and grew until it blossomed in to hysterical peals of laughter making him double over.

"Mr. Megamind," Roux inquired cautiously, "are you alright?"

"It wasn't my fault," Megamind panted after a while, "It wasn't me!"

Megamind hopped up out of the chair, "You will never know how grateful I am to hear that Mr. DuPont. I didn't screw up my escape! It wasn't a result of bad testing, faulty circuits, or anything to do with the satellite. I've been going over and over in my head what could have possibly brought us way out here in the first place, but it was just my old foe fate. HA!"

Megamind turned to Roux slapping his palms on the wood of the desk, "so when do I start?"

Roux smiled softly, "thought you'd never ask."

He lead Megamind past several minions busily doing house chores, down through a trap door at the end of a hall, down a spiraling stair case into a wide room with many workbenches and chalkboards littered with scrawling notes and spiraling drawings. In the center of this chaos like the eye of a storm was a lustrous black hoop with antennas sprouting from the sides like a crown laying on its side. The side panel was charred and blown off, the cables and circuits were burned out and melted. Several lay in a sad little heap nearby. Megamind gave a low whistle. This was going to need a lot of work. He went over the designs with Roux, correcting some errors that caused it to over load in the first place. Together they drew up a new fool proof plan that would need more parts, and time.

Roux invited Megamind up for dinner to meet them family after one of his minions called them up to eat, and what a large one it was. There was Adela, Roux's wife; Vincent, his eldest son; Pascal, his youngest; Then their minions Luc, Sophie, Zar, and Odette; and then all eighteen of their combined children some of which were running around precariously in small trainer suits. Megamind was a little overwhelmed by the activity and was somewhat relived when Zar suddenly showed up with Minion close behind. The children clustered around him, particularly the older ones to ask him questions and examine his strange bulky suit. Sophie called the chaos to order and conduct the swarm of small minions into the kitchen to sit at the children's table, the older ones sat at the long table with the rest of the adults.

One in particular, Jade, barely took her eyes off of Minion. She was aptly named, for her scales were a pale earthy green that was unlike anything her brothers or sisters had. She flirtily batted her long lashes at him, in a way that made Minion gulp and look uncertainly at his master. Megamind shrugged as he tried to keep up with the DuPont's questions.

By the end of the night, Megamind and Minion had had enough socializing. Megamind was on edge with the constant stream of Q & A, most of which he was unwilling to answer. They excused themselves, thanking their gracious host and headed back to Dr. Tim's house. The house was silent as the grave when then entered.

"I'm back here," he called to them wearily.

Dr. Tim had a tube down Roxanne's throat and an intravenous drip her arm; he explained that Roxanne had become unresponsive whilst they were gone as a result of prolonged exposure to the infectious bacteria that found its way into her blood stream.

"She could be like this for a few days or a few months, it depends on what type of strain she contracted and how strong her immune system is," Dr. Tim said solemnly, striping off some latex gloves and depositing them in a yellow container. He pulled a curtain around her for some privacy and they left her to sleep.

Megamind worked in turns for Roux and Mr. Tim, all the while worrying over Roxanne's unchanging condition. When he wasn't searching for scrap metal with Vincent and Pascal, or fixing busted up machinery in Mr. Tim's garage, he sat in the chair Dr. Tim had provided for him and reminisced of the good old days. Her snarky comments, her feisty attitude, her utter fearlessness. He missed it more than he was ready to admit, and to see her lying helpless in a hospital bed with a breathing apparatus covering that lovely face of hers broke his twin hearts.

About nine days had come and gone before anyone really realized it. Dr. Tim was busy cleaning Roxanne up that morning. Checked her stitches, taken out her IV, and putting fresh clothes on her. They were plunged into darkness without warning as he laid her back down. The doctor carefully slipped the breathing apparatus off so she wouldn't suffocate and went to go locate the problem. The generator behind the house had broken down cutting off the power. Megamind, who hadn't left just yet, took up his tool belt and started poking around inside the mechanism. The filters were clogged and the pressure gauge showed that there was a leak somewhere along the line. He powered it down and got Minion to rinse out the filters while he reluctantly climbed up underneath the maze of valves and pipes to look for the steam leakage. A gasket had blown in the far corner, so he had to climb half way inside to patch it, getting covered in mud and dirt and grease in the process. He turned it back on only to hear the hiss of more leakage. Back off it went and he started hunting around again. Twenty minutes later, Megamind turning the generator on hearing nothing but the blissful sound of its gentle steam powered hum. Satisfied with his work he headed back inside. Dr. Tim was bandaging up another walk in with a work injury.

"Dr. Tim, I finished the repairs on your generator. There wasn't much to work with but it works great now," Megamind said proudly.

"Oh bravo, boy! Thank you so much, I'm so glad you could fix it so quickly. By the way, your little Miss. Ritchi just got up. She looks rather shaky if I do say so myself. Be a good lad go help her before she falls."

Megamind nearly jumped out of his skin at the sight of her pale figure leaning against the door jamb, "Ro- I mean, Miss. Ritchi!" he rushed over getting ready to catch her.

"Wow, what happened? I go to sleep for a few hours and you act as if I was dead," Roxanne said sarcastically, she swayed slightly and Megamind hoped she wouldn't fall.

Megamind counted off the days in his head, sadden by his lack of progress on their way home, "Miss. Ritchi, it's been much longer than a night. You've been in a coma for over a week now."

0o0o0o0o0o0o

And so they had come full circle. Megamind and Minion had given her the short story to save time, omitting details that weren't necessary. And for just being told she was trapped on a planet entirely for the miscreants of society, she was very calm.

She merely stated to him confidently, "about that 'homeward bound' plan you have, how can I help speed it along?"

Megamind smiled cool as a cucumber, "Why, I thought you'd never ask, Miss. Ritchi."


	9. New game plan

_Arg… sooo sorry it's taking so very long to update. I'm the only one taking care of my very demanding injured family member atm, so it's hard to juggle with this new set of pins. Please enjoy! =P_

**New game plan**

"You want me to do what," Roxanne gasped in horror at the blue man before her.

She had just come back from a short and very unusual court meeting to get her citizenship card, when she was ambushed by Mr. DuPont, to whom she had been introduced the day before. She followed him to his house where he started explaining in detail what he and Megamind had been doing all this time. They went down to the 'basement' where they found Megamind, and Roux told them about the new plan he had come up with earlier this morning.

"Just think about it Miss. Ritchi. Instead of scrounging around for parts that are pretty much useless, you could use your reporter skills to seek out and pin point where they keep all their spoils. Then we send in the retrieval team and acquire the parts we need to finish off the transporter. You'll get to go home just that much sooner," Roux looked so excited as he explained why he wanted her to 'infiltrate' Old Towne.

"No," Megamind dropped what he was doing, "It's way too dangerous for a woman to go waltzing around there. You might as well throw her to the razorbacks!"

Roxanne felt a trill of anger run down her spine, "so, you're not going to_ let_ me go cause I'm a weak little woman, is that it?"

Megamind mentally face-palmed himself, "No, wait. That's not what I-."

"Yes, it is what you meant, and I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, thank you very much. If I want to go, I'll go."

"Just don't go alone at least, Miss. Ritchi," Megamind pleaded.

"Who said she was going there alone," Roux raised an eyebrow, "I'm not senile just yet Mr. Megamind. I'm sending several people whom have been there before."

He handed Megamind a list of four people. He read them off, "Roxanne Ritchi, GregoUrhines , Ahi Tibbs, and Amudd De'Wart."

Megamind rolled the names around in his mind while fingering the recently recovered De- gun on his hip. He traced the delicate filigree on the hilt with his thumb, carefully considering his next line of action.

"Would it be possible to accompany them on their journey," Megamind questioned.

"Well," Roux petted his beard in thought, "I would rather you stay here, but I suppose they could use a strategist. What do you think, Miss. Ritchi?"

Roxanne looked between them quickly, "I guess it couldn't hurt. The more the merrier."

0o0o0o0o0o

Metro Man looked out over the austere city bathed in night. It gleamed in its autogenic illumination while its citizens walked about below like busy ants going about their business. He sat atop the ledge of Metro Tower like a somnolent gargoyle, immovable as the mountain with a grimace plastered on his face. This was his city. He was its protector, its golden hero, and yet he could not bear to move from his perch. He heard his city crying out with his sensitive ears. It beckoned him to help the tiny isolated disturbances that marred the shining city like pox marks.

He had attended Roxanne's funeral this afternoon. Her casket now lay in the cold earth, void of anything but some memorabilia that had been placed there to make up for the lack of corpse. Her mother's bawling still echoed in his mind. She had hit his rock hard chest with seemingly feather light punches while she sobbed about how incompetent of a hero he was, whereas in the background Metro Man had heard the ecstatic celebration of Megamind's death. It had a little more gusto than he was comfortable with. It's not like Megamind had hurt anyone, so why couldn't he get some sort of respect?

It had only taken the police two weeks to declare that they were dead, even after Metro Man had implored them to look harder. He was the only one to escape the burning building, once the plastic wrap had melted away in the heat of the blaze. He had searched the city himself high and low but no signs were found. The fourth week was rolling around and the excitement had already died down. People were starting to miss the battles that had made this city so unique and Metro Man found the normal, everyday crimes lackluster. He started to sink into depression slowly as a result. He would no longer have those chats in the coffee shop with Roxie that had made people believe they were dating in the first place, nor those fearless verbal sparring matches he shared with Megamind. No one would daringly challenge him like they did.

Metro Man hung his head and cradled his forehead in his gloved hand. "You can't really be dead, can you," he asked the sighing wind, but it gave no answer to the crestfallen hero.

0o0o0o0o0o

Roxanne was eyeing Grego and Ahi as they readied themselves to leave the safety of the village's walls. They were intimidating to be around, she admitted to herself. Ahi was a lanky young man with horrible scars maiming his umber flecked flesh and many piercings along his long floppy rabbit ears. He was quiet and observant, his carful eyes watching every movement. Roxanne caught the glint of the twin blades that his steady hands never strayed far from. Grego was loud and obnoxious as he strutted about showing off the beefy muscles in all four of his red furred arms. The minotaur was so full of himself that he had 'Ladies Man' tattooed across his bare back, among many other douche bag tags. Megamind was scowling at Grego almost nonstop. He definitely was not fond of his lack of self-control.

The odd collection of companions set out into the jungle with Wart leading the way through the trees. His excellent sense of smell, direction, and familiarity with the forest made him the perfect guide.

"Watch yourself round these parts, young ones," Wart called back, "don't disturb the forest, she sleeps now. This part of the woods crawls with all sorts of nasties, just like Grego there be demonstratin'."

Grego froze for a second, raising a thickset hand to smack the roach/spider thing.

"Don't," Squeaked Wart, "if that thing bites ye, death will be slowly findin' ye!"

Wart coaxed it from Grego's forearm, releasing it into a tree where it crept off.

They started off again, "The smell of death is not somethin' ye want in this neck of the woods."

They traveled further, soon passing stone ruins as they went. The devastated alabaster building must have been beautiful at one time. The style reminded her of an Egyptian temple with its crumbling pylons and decorative columns. A toppled statue resembled an angular rat standing on its hind legs. Wart stopped to pull some strangling vines from its fractured face. Putting his palms together he bowed respectfully to the ruins, and continued as if they had never halted.

Roxanne caught up with Wart, "uh- I'm sorry to bother you, but may I ask what that building was?"

Wart shifted the pack on his shoulder, "What ye had held in witness was the Temple of the Dead. A sacred and protected place built in remembrance and destroyed in contempt. It's one of the last bits of my culture that haven't been claimed by the forest just yet."

"Just what happened to it?"

"The last prince sealed the inner sanctum so that the Asuki couldn't collect our treasures. In anger the Asuki leader devastated every solid structure on the island and left us to fend off the criminals they sent in exile. With so many tenderfeet using up everythin' they could get their grubby hands on, the Razorbacks started to starve. Them bein' as smart as they are, they came together in huntin' packs and killed many people. Blood lust became second nature to 'em in no time, and their numbers swelled. In order to protect themselves, the off-worlders built a monstrous metal fence around their city. My people either got mixed up in the corruption of Old Towne or headed off to the smaller island to the west."

Roxanne took advantage of his short pause, "and your one of the unlucky ones that got stuck here?" It was more of a statement than a question.

Wart nodded sadly, "Aye, that I am. I tried to salvage what I could of my culture, but in the end the drink kept me in its pubs and passed out in its gutters. It's a tale that many a Tikus live with, but I'm one of the lucky ones. The Doc came across me lyin' in an alley outside a bar, nearly bled out from a fight. He took me home, patched my wounds, sobered me up, and dragged me along with him to New Town."

"Wow, that's really something, Wart. How long have you been clean?"

"Twelve years it's been. I swore to never touch the bottle again."

"Hu. So what's their story," Roxanne pointed to Ahi and Grego.

Wart smirked, "surprised you don't know Grego's tale yet. With the way he blathers about every little thing I'd have guessed you heard about it by now," he cleared his throat, "Grego was an up and comin' commander of a small fleet of pilots, who were captured and tortured before bein' left here. The council wasn't sure they wanted him there, for reasons yet unknown, but the Capitan of the Guards convinced 'em that Grego would be a 'fine addition' to our growing city. Load of codswallop I reckon."

Roxanne smiled in agreement.

"Now Ahi I don't know much about, other than he is wicked fast with those blades. I found him 'bout two years ago much the same way I found ye three, only bloodied and bruised and half dead. He doesn't say much, quite the shy fella."

She fell behind to walk beside Minion and Megamind, leaving Wart to sniff out the trail.

They were all bushed by the time they started to string the hammocks high up in the great trees around the hanging stove. The suspended beds were airy and could be pulled around the occupant to prevent bugs from biting them. Roxanne sleepily admired the breath taking view the tree top gave her. The huge twisted tree rested near the edge of a cliff that jutted over the land like the bow a sinking ship. The red and orange stained sky leached the color from the earth, turning the world grey then black as night fall set in.

The scuffle of nocturnal beasts below them set her on edge and robbed her of precious sleep. Roxanne spied the soft blue glow of Megamind's ornate De-gun as it lay on his chest. His eyes were closed, and face relaxed as he breathed slowly. Roxanne peered at him through the mesh of the hammock. She had never seen him without some sort of wild expression on his elastic face. Seeing him so still was a little unnerving. She caught herself wishing she could see his bright verdant eyes that were now shielded by the blue lids and long black eyelashes.

She was surprised when he spoke in a low husky voice, "You know, it very difficult to sleep while you're staring at me like that," his eyes slid open and he propped himself up on his elbow to look back at her, "Do I have something on my face or did you finally realize that you're 'desperately in love with me'?" He dramatized the last part with an exaggerated gesture.

Roxanne became red in the face, partly because of a blush and partly in anger. "No I was calculating just how I could smother you in your sleep."

"Oh, feisty aren't we," he said with hooded eyes, "but I don't think I'll be sleeping a wink while those things are circling us, Miss. Ritchi, so you'll just have to wait. In the meantime, I don't think I would mind your- close company much." He said it suggestively and sarcastically while he raised his eyebrows almost hopefully.

Roxanne's eyes narrowed and cheeks flushed further, "cheeky basterd," she muttered as she rolled over violently.

"What was that, Miss. Ritchi?" He cupped his ear in his hand with a sleepy, playful smile knowing exactly what she said.

"Good night, Megamind," Roxanne said irritably.

She heard a quiet chuckle and a barely audible murmur, "pleasant dreams, Roxie."


	10. Old Towne slum

**Old Towne slum**

Megamind couldn't calm the feverish activity in his brain enough to coax sleep to take hold. He just laid there listening to the snuffling of creatures in the foliage below while the slight swinging of the cot made him dizzy. Wart didn't seem too concerned with anything coming after them in the trees, but with the luck he'd been having lately Megamind wasn't taking a chance. The calming blue light from his De-gun was a comfort, since the hanging stove's fire offered little illumination and flickered about. He watched the deep black shadows dance back and forth from beneath half opened eyes. They were just starting to lull him to sleep when he heard Roxanne stir in her hammock. He immediately slid his eyes shut, peeping from underneath his eyelids a moment later to see if she had gone back to sleep. She was lying on her stomach with her arms cradling her head. Her cerulean eyes were wandering over his carefully tranquil face, and he felt a great need to say something to break the tension.

He floundered for a bit to come up with something good. He mentioned the most prominent thing on his mind, sleep, and just went with it from there. It was all just a bit of playful banter. He was a little more suggestive than he meant to be, but his bleary mind let it slip. He had only hoped that she didn't hear him utter her nickname, he couldn't get too casual with her. She was his bait for Metro Man, and villains couldn't be buddy buddy with their captives.

He caught a few hours sleep before once again he was staring blankly at the canopy. He was going over the items he needed and how he would install them just like one would count sheep. The early grey of morning crept over the horizon, making the nocturnal animals scurry back to their burrows. Megamind sighed, no use trying to sleep now.

Wart arose first, making coffee and eating the pink flesh of one of the yellow gourds that hung from the tree. The smell of caffeine slowly awakened the rest of the crew, who were no more rested than Megamind and Roxanne. Wart seemed to be the only one who was refreshed and ready to go by the time the sun had fully restored the forest's vivid colors.

The trek was miserable and muggy as they meandered their way through some marshy land. The sinking mud pulled at their boots even though they wore the mud shoes Wart had brought. The bugs dive-bombed their eyes in a constant barrage of assaults. Wart told them there was nothing for it which made Grego start grumbling again.

"I'm dying this fucked up, boiling mud pit," He shouted as a particularly large insect decided to assail his ear, "Shit flying in my eyes, can't see, let's forget this and get the fuck out of this hell hole."

"We be half way there, my impatient friend," Wart said shielding his eyes from the blistering sun, "The mire mud will soon give way to firmer ground."

"That DuPont fella didn't pay me enough to deal with this crap. We'd bloody well get there soon or I'm going back. You can get through the gates on your own time then."

Ahi growled and whipped around so fast he nearly knocked Grego into the mud. "Listen, you pompous ass hole," he seethed, "If I have to listen to you whine like a sissy little girl for one more minute, I'm going to cut out your waggling tongue! Savvy?"

Ahi didn't wait for an answer; he merely turned on his heel and tromped off after the hooting Wart. Grego remained uncharacteristically silent even during water breaks, his furious stare never leaving Ahi. Roxanne caught a chilling glint in his eye that led her to believe he was planning something unpleasant.

After a setting up the beds, everyone slipped into a profound slumber, allowing them to feel more alert the next morning. Wart got more and more jumpy as they neared the valley where Old Towne resided. The acrid brown smog the city was pumping out swirled around it like they were in a truck stop toilet bowl. Everyone besides Grego cringed at the sight.

"I regret to say it, but this is where I must leave ye," Wart looked cautiously around, "Grego will take it from here. I will meet ye over yonder when ye finish the task at hand. I pray ye return safely and successfully. Now make haste, lest you be caught dawdlin'. Fair you well, my friends." With that he disappeared between the trees.

Grego turned to his charges, "alright, let's get a move on, shall we."

Roxanne donned her scruffy paper boy hat that she had, and adjusted the painfully tight bandages that flattened her chest. She looked like a very feminine boy, but it would have to work. She patted a bit more dirt on her face, taking care not to rub off the patterned black spots that Ahi had silently painted on her face earlier.

Between the montage of rusted metal that made up the fence, the graveyard of tree stumps, and the squalid smell; Old Towne looked like the least occupiable place Roxanne had ever seen.

A small hatch opened with a groan and a heavily accented man grunted in broken English, "Why you here? What business you have?"

Grego pushed past Minion and Megamind and began speaking in a very guttural language. The burly Guard grunted back looking at Roxanne with a sour face and Grego nodded. The man grumbled something before slamming the porthole.

"What was all that about," Megamind asked.

Grego turned to Roxanne, "He was questioning her nationality. Told him she was a Dreggle mutt, he seemed satisfied enough, but he's skeptical."

The Gate screeched open allowing the five companions into the gloomy city. Eyes watched from every corner and every darkened window. They sneered down at the fresh meat that had wandered so willingly into their midst. Grego looked about trying to get his grounding, before heading off down one of the wider streets. He was constantly looking over his shoulders and making sure his metal club was handy while pausing to peep into every bar they passed. Occasionally he would ask the bar tender if he'd seen someone named Mirth. Apparently Mirth not only frequented these establishments for booze, he was a very well known business man that sold his 'wares' to most of the taverns. Roxanne could only guess what that meant, but she had a pretty good idea from the ladies with smudged makeup that were hanging about.

Grego found Mirth talking to the owner of a bar called The Brass Bugle. It was one of the cleaner places they had seen, but it was still dark and reeked of unwashed men. Mirth was quite the handsome fellow. His cheek bones were high under his skin pale , and his eyes were like two sapphires glinting mischievously in the dim light. His long silvery hair was accompanied by two graceful horns from which lustrous ornaments hung. He looked every bit the part of a proper gentleman with his impeccably clean frilled shirt and navy blue jacket.

"Oh, my good friend," He said in a deep voice, "it's been ages since I've seen you. How's the 'good, clean life' been treating you, Urhines?"

"Not bad. Not bad at all, Mirthy. How's your business been, a little too good to you?"

Mirth grinned, showing his sharp teeth, "yes, well, you know how much I love a good challenge. Things are getting too boring around here, especially without having to dig you and I out of trouble every other night. So aren't you going to introduce me to your," he paused to look at Roxanne, "companions?"

"Oh, umm," Megamind felt he shouldn't use his real name just in case, so he thought quickly, "I'm- Price, - Vincent Price, and this is M-m- Martin," he motioned to Minion and shook Mirth's hand.

"How do you do, Mr. Price. And what about you two," Mirth looked between Roxanne and Ahi, "Do you have names?"

"Richard Ritchi," Roxanne shook his hand. It was soft and cold as ice, making her shiver.

"Ahi Tibbs," He remained lent up against the post he had found.

Mirth smirked, "I knew I'd seen you somewhere. You were Champion of the battle cages weren't you? You've grown quite a bit since I'd last seen you, Mr. Tibbs, where have you been?"

"Been on holiday," he said bluntly.

"I see," Mirth examined Roxanne for a moment, looking directly into her eyes. She felt as if she was a little bird hypnotized by a menacing snake, but she shook it off. Mirth's eyes darted back to Grego and he smiled warmly, "Come friends, let us not loiter about. We shall retire to my humble abode."


	11. Mirth's hospitality

**Mirth's hospitality**

Mirth's humble abode was anything but. Every surface was either polished or covered in some sort of posh fiber or fur. The air was sweet and floral, untainted by the sour smog that lingered outside. Megamind was sickened by the sharp contrast between what lay beyond and within the high wrought iron fence. While the general populous scrounged about in squalor like pigs, this rat was sitting pretty on a golden toilet bowl. There were a few young boys with shackles on their ankles and terrified expressions, obviously slaves. They took his jacket and shoes replacing them with a clean maroon lounge coat and house slippers before scuttling away. The group followed him into a large sitting room that was covered in mostly snarling stuffed animal heads and shaggy fur besides the red leather couches beside the cold stone fireplace. Mirth adjusted his sleeves and lazily snapped his fingers calling forth a short, stout girl with a teetering tray of wine glasses followed by another with an ice bucket and a bottle of red wine. They carefully poured Mirth a drink and moved to Grego who took it up immediately. The girls made their way over to Megamind, trying to hand him a glass of the crimson liquid while studiously refusing to look up.

"Sorry, I'm not fond of alcohol," he said politely waving the glass away.

The stocky girls looked up fearfully, pleading for him to take the glass with watery eyes. She had a bulbous potato nose, little piggy eyes, and lumpy green skin that was streaked with old scars.

Mirth chuckled at Megamind's statement, "come now, Mr. Price. Everyone drinks in the Old Towne."

Megamind grimaced, "I hope you don't mind, but I would really rather not partake."

Mirth raised an eyebrow in question. There was silence for a long time, until the young servant could take no more.

"You must, sir. To refuse is an insult," whispered the terrified, thickset girl. Mirth glared daggers at her, speaking volumes of his disapproval to hearing her speak. She began to shake as Megamind gingerly took the glass with an apologetic look. When everyone was served Mirth settled down into his high backed chair by the empty hearth.

"So Grego, my boy. How did you meet your unusual companions?"

Grego took a gulp of wine and cleared his throat, "I found them camping out on the southern beach while out trapping. They got chased up a tree by a horde of Razorbacks the night before."

"Wasn't exactly expecting to get attacked by a bunch of mice," Megamind mumbled over the glass of wine.

Mirth nodded, "They can be quite the nuisance."

Grego continued, "They told me on the way there that they were captured on a routine barter mission because they were carting stolen goods. I brought them into Towne and had a lot of trouble getting them membership to the Towne's little do-gooder club. Decided that it would be easier to just send them over here, so they went and hired a guide. Ahi was heading this way too apparently, so he went along. I wanted to get out of that boring little place and see how my old chum was doing, so I too followed."

"And your little traveling party was born, how heartwarming," Mirth said with minimal interest, "so how did they come to know of me?"

Grego gave a dry chuckle, "Hu, I'm glad it warmed your cockles, Mirthy. I happened to mention a certain businessman that I knew on the sly that just so happened to deal in the smuggling trade."

"It was a very interesting proposition and we didn't want to be left without a trade to keep us afloat, did we Richard," Megamind placed a gentle hand on Roxanne's shoulder.

She quietly cleared her throat and said in a deeper voice, "No, Sir." She nervously sipped at the last of her wine.

Mirth smirked slightly, "and what of you, Ahi? Surly you aren't here for a new career?"

"No, sir. Just letting my number one sponsor know that I'm back in Towne," Ahi said quietly.

Mirth nodded, "excellent, my dear boy. With you back in the arena it'll be much more interesting. This calls for a celebration," he stared wistfully at the bottle of wine, "and something a little stronger."

Like he had said the magic word, the husky girl whisked the wine bottle and glasses away, replacing them with a crystal bottle of indigo liquor and brandy glasses. She poured everyone a new glass and disappeared.

Roxanne was getting edgy around Mirth. His cold eyes slipped to her now and then, observing her and sending uncomfortable shivers down her spine. From the way he was smirking she had a feeling that Mirth either saw through her disguise or he went both ways. Either way she wasn't too please with those prospects.

So far everything was going according to Roux's plan. What Roxanne wasn't too pleased with was how they were going to go about their snooping. They were going to have to put up with whatever job Mirth decided to give them. It seemed like Grego was going to be part of the Brute Squad that made up Mirth's personal army; Mirth was interested in Megamind's technological capabilities, so he was probably going to be building him a weapon; Ahi was of course going back to the Cages to make a grand reentrance; but he had yet to speak to Roxanne about her employment.

They ended up playing a drinking game with the tangy blue drink that left everyone very placid. Megamind seemed to be really out of it two glasses later, and Minion was dozing in his dome. Roxanne found herself feeling unbearably drunk soon after. She swayed in her seat as she listened to Grego snorting at a joke that wasn't very funny. Mirth seemed to suddenly notice his incapacitated guests, and hazily called their attention. Mirth suggested they all get to bed and rang for a servant who would lead them to the guest house that was attached to the west end of the mansion.

Getting to this infamous west wing seemed a difficult task to say the least. Minion and Ahi were wobbling just ahead of Roxanne and Megamind. They were speaking slowly and slurring every other word. Grego had stayed behind to keep Mirth company in the dead animal room, urging the light weights to toddle off to bed. Something about this waved a little red flag to Roxanne, but in her drunken stupor it was forgotten as quickly as it had come. She was more concerned with staying upright while she and Megamind leaned heavily on each other. His head kept rolling around and they bumped into walls and furniture all the way there.

After what felt like forever they made it to the guest house, which wasn't as suavely decorated but was still tasteful and comfortable. Minion collapsed in the middle of the sitting room on his back, not bothering to tuck into his castle to sleep. Ahi disappeared toward the back of the house while Roxanne with Megamind in tow teetered away to find somewhere to sleep for the night. She discovered a darkened bedroom and dragged the barely conscience alien to the canopy bed.

"Come on big guy, almost here," she huffed, "just a few more feet."

Roxanne attempted to pry him off her shoulder but lost her balance. She ended up flopping down half way on the bed with his arms possessively around her. She was about to pull her way free when she noticed a goofy smile spread across his face. She caught herself smiling at how cute he was just then, cuddling up to her like a kid and his teddy bear. She yawned, suddenly losing all determination to free herself. She'd get up later when the room stopped spinning so. For now she was entirely too content just laying there in the warmth of her captors arms.


	12. Progress

**Progress**

When Megamind awoke, he was dimly aware of aware of a warm body lying in his arms. The more prominent sensation was a throbbing headache that felt like a drummer beating on his temples. He blinked blearily, finding the source of what had made him stir in the first place. A single band of sunlight streaked through the heavy cream colored curtains that rendered the rest of the room blissfully dark. This ray of burning light just so happened to be directed at his painfully squinted eyes. He turned his face away from offending beam, finding soft brown hair instead of the other side of the pillow that was tucked haphazardly under his head. Roxanne was pressed up against his side, warm with sleep. Her head resting in the crook of his shoulder and an arm lay comfortably across his chest. The black marks Ahi had painted on her face the day before were smudged as if she had tried to rinse them off with little enthusiasm. Megamind found his arms loosely draped around her torso. He blushed slightly and his heart thumped in his chest. How did this come to be? What happened last night, exactly? He could remember talking to Mirth and drinking the indigo liquor, which he knew was a bad idea to start with, but his memory was pretty foggy after that to say the least. Surly this was an innocent occurrence, but his mind was tempted to wander to obscure corners.

Megamind swept a stray tendril of hair from the sleeping beauty's peaceful face tenderly. This would probably be the closest he would ever get to her, he thought despondently.

"Oh, well," he murmured aloud, "c'est la vie."

Roxanne groaned moments later, making Megamind jump. She stiffly sat up clutching at her head, "Sweet Jeebus," she moan, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes until little stars danced behind her lids, "I feel like I've got hive full of bees in my brain!"

Megamind sighed and achingly sat up, "more like wasps."

She looked around at Megamind, looking slightly confused as to why he was there. A light blush crept into her smudgy cheeks, and she looked away.

"How long have we been out," she said nervously.

Megamind rolled out of the rumpled sheets to the edge of the bed, "your guess is as good as mine. Could have been days for all I we know."

Roxanne snorted, "We weren't that drunk."

"I probably was," Megamind admitted, "Last night is blank slate for the most part. Hard liquor and I don't mix well."

"Really? I would have never guessed from your little act last night."

Megamind's eyes enlarged. "Act," he asked worriedly, "what sort of act?"

Roxanne smiled slyly, "Oh you know - dancing on the tables, swinging on the chandeliers, streaking through the mansion, that sort of thing."

"You're just teasing me, right?"

"Don't you know it," she grinned apologetically, "No, you did not make an ass of yourself. You were very well behaved."

He folded his arms over his chest, "I knew that."

"I did however have some trouble trying to get away from that chokehold you had me in after I dragged your blue butt here," she mumbled, "it was pretty awkward."

He looked away and blushed, "sorry about that."

Roxanne waved his apology away, "Don't worry about it. What's a little awkwardness between friends? Anyway, should we see if there were any more survivors?"

"Minion must be in an awful state right about now," Megamind sighed.

The two emerged cautiously from the room, looking about for any sign of life.

"Well hello there, good looking," Minion said cheerily, "Care for an ibuprofen and room service?"

"Yes please," Roxanne said gratefully.

After gulping the horse pill down with some water she set to work on a crêpe filled with fresh fruit and yogurt. Enjoying the feeling of a full stomach and a clear head soon after, she dared to ask what time it was.

"We slept all day," Ahi said through a mouth full of his strange smelling sandwich, "it's just past six in the afternoon. Whatever he gave us was some good stuff, because I didn't even wake up till an hour ago."

"Well let's get this show on the road then," Minion said jumping up.

Everyone washed up and changed into the cloths that Mirth's servants had left for them. Ahi repainted the black marks on Roxanne's face, taking care to make them exactly the way they looked yesterday. They emerged from the room fresh and ready for the evening ahead. Mirth and Grego were waiting for them in a room that was mostly gold and white. The colors reminded Megamind of his old foe back home, and he wondered briefly how he was fairing without them.

"Well good evening, sleepy heads," Mirth chided, "I trust you've slept off your alcohol induced hebetude and are ready for a fun filled evening?"

Megamind asked cautiously, "Which would include?"

Mirth handed each new arrival an envelope with a dark blue wax seal portraying a grimacing horned snake with many legs. Megamind recognized it from the ceiling mural in the Great Hall.

"These contain your job locations and descriptions," Mirth explained, "Hand them to the guards posted at those locations and they will allow you to pass. Do not lose them."

Mirth said his 'pleasant' goodbyes and left with Grego close at his heels. Some servants escorted the four companions to the door as they read their assignments silently. Two security guards came up to Ahi and stood by his side.

"I guess I'll see you chaps later tonight. I've got practice," Ahi said glumly, "ciao for niao."

Roxanne glanced at hers and furrowed her eyebrows, "What kind of sense of humor does this guy have?"

Megamind glanced at the thick paper. It was blank besides Mirth's signature scrawled across the bottom and a side note, "take it easy for now, little one."

"Maybe he just doesn't need your assistance at the present time," Megamind shrugged.

Roxanne sighed as they walked along the filthy streets outside the estate, "well I'm not staying there. He gives me the willies."

"Why not come with us," Minion suggested, "it'll be fun!"

Roxanne considered it, "Eh, why not. I've got nowhere else to be."

"That's the spirit," Minion said happily.

They all got in surprisingly easy. Apparently the practically blank sheet was like a golden ticket in this town. Megamind got stuck fixing up old race cars and designing a new engine. He made sure not to give it anything too advanced just in case they had to escape from it. In between handing Megamind tools and watching him work, Roxanne went around snooping for were the spare parts were located. There was nothing of note in the rickety warehouse and the grease monkeys that were there pretended to be too busy to talk.

Roxanne was sighing on their way out, disappointed with the lack of progress she had made. During the time they were in the dusty warehouse a errand boy came with a message saying that Mirth had set the three of them up in a couple of rooms at the Brass Bugle. It was early morning and the streets were very quiet as they treaded silently down the cobblestone road. The bartender handed them the keys for twelve and eleven once shown the note from Mirth. The wiry barkeep promised them lunch and dinner on the house as the trio climbed the creaking stairs, parting ways at their designated doors.

The room wasn't terrible, but it was a fixer-upper. The lamp flickered, the blinds were broken, rosy wallpaper peeled in places, and the bed was leaning to one side slightly. At least it was clean and free of infestation, Roxanne thought with a shudder.

Later that day Minion knocked on her door to see if she wanted to accompany them down to lunch. She practically jumped up off the lumpy bed. Unable to rest her eyes she had been staring at the ceiling for hours, lost in thought. Her stomach growled, when she smelled the awaiting food. It wasn't gourmet, but it filled the void. By their plates they found envelopes with Mirth's seal on it. They contained a few coins and a scribbled note:

"Go buy yourself something nice. ;),"

Roxanne grimaced, "I have a feeling he's mocking me."

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Three gruelingly slow days went by before Mirth's money filled note to Roxanne had some sort of instructions. She was to pick up a package at the gate and take it to a man by the name of Dr. Tim Osher. The package she received at Mirth's black gates was very ordinary looking. It was wrapped carefully in brown paper, tied with twine and sealed with Mirth's snake. It was weighty in her arms and rattled around as she briskly walked past the rundown edifices. Her curiosity tingled as she longed to see what she was carting clear across town.

Dr. Osher's office was relatively easy to find. She just had to follow the line of sickly people that wrapped clear around the block. Her arms ached from lugging the package around by the time she made it inside his clinic. She approached a Grey that was busily disinfecting some bloodied utensils and asked him where she could find Dr. Osher.

"That's me, what can I do for you?" He stripped off his protective gloves and moved from behind the counter. He wore a shackle around his ankle that was attached to a long metallic tether leading off into the back room.

"Package from Mr. Mirth," she said breathily.

"Ah, Lord Mirth sent me the equipment I required," He signed the release form that was stapled to the top and handed it to her. Roxanne turned to leave but a wave of realization washed over her.

She turned, biting her lip, "Is Tim a family name?"

Dr. Osher looked up from the chart he was reading, "Yes. It is my inherited name, Osher is my given name. Why do you ask?"

"Are you by any chance related to a Dr. Tim in New Towne," she asked guardedly.

His eyes bulged, "You know of my father? How is he? Is he okay?"

Roxanne made sure no one was in ear shot at she whispered, "He treated my wounds and sheltered my party since we arrived on this planet. He's just fine, but he's been so worried about you."

Osher nodded whispering back, "And for good reason. Most slaves don't last long, but since my skills are making my master money, I'm a little more worthwhile. Right now I-,"

A thunderous roar interrupted him, and an extremely obese, unwashed male thudded into the room, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING YOU LAZY WELP!" He howled at the top of his lungs, "GET BACK TO WORK! TIME IS MONEY YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING!"

"Please forgive this foolish creature, master," Osher verbally prostrated himself before the mountainous grease ball, "I was merely sending your sincerest regards to Lord Mirth for sending the requested items."

The mentioning of the man's name calmed the massive man down quite a bit, "Your Mirth's boy?"

Roxanne held her head up and confidently replied, "Yes sir, and lord Mirth will be most pleased to hear your thanks. Have a nice day."

Roxanne's heart nearly broke at the look on Osher's face. He was scared and pleading with his black eyes for her to help him, and soon. She made a silent vow to get him rescued before she left the town.

Roxanne returned to the mansion, and handed the slip to a waiting servant who bowed and scuttled off to give it to his master.

Sunset was fast approaching, and walking around alone in the dark was not a good idea. The cobblestones clicked against her thick boots, as she walked with her head down and her hands in her pockets. She past a gaggle of overly made up whores strutting around on a bar patio, showcasing their goods to interested passersby.

One clad in a neon green, plastic mini tube dress clacked her way into Roxanne's path in shiny pink stilettos, "hey there handsome, wanna have some fun?"

Roxanne stiffened when she wrapped her arms around her, "I'm sorry but I have important business to attend to."

The blue speckled red head clung closer, "I'm sure it can wait a moment," her hand snaked down to her waist.

"I'm not interested," Roxanne said snatching her hand away by the wrist.

The woman looked over her shoulder nervously. In the door way across the street, an older woman that looked like a graying bulldog with pursed lips squinted at her menacingly.

"Please," she begged, "my boss is watching. I'm already in trouble for the last two nights."

Roxanne glanced quickly at the sour old bawd, "Okay fine, but in return I would like you to answer a few questions."

The street walker's eyes lit up and she mouthed a thank you before leading Roxanne into the brothel. It was dimed and reeked of potent incense. Whore's sat in the hallways smoking and talking amongst themselves. A few leered at Roxanne, trying to catch her attention with sexual displays. The further the woman took her into the brothel's depths the more she felt the need to run from this house of horrors.

The green clad girl led her into a room and closed the door soundly, "so what were you going to ask me?"

Roxanne sat in a little wooden chair by the vanity, "What do you know about the parts that are salvaged from the prisoner pods."

The red head furrowed her brow, "I'm going to need to see some cash."

Roxanne dug into her pockets and pulled out a fist full of silver coins which was the equivalent of buying a brand new car. Roxanne wasn't using it, and if it got her the information she wanted, even better. She shifted the shining coins in her hand with a musical clink, "Now, let's talk. What happens to the pods when they are brought into the city?"

The prostitute licked her lips nervously at the sound of the staccato, "They're taken to a warehouse owned by one of the lords, where they are stripped and sorted. The useful parts go into the derby cars or into a secret basement at the east side of the city. The rest either ends up as part of the wall or melted down into other goods."

"Why are the parts hidden," Roxanne questioned further.

She twisted a piece of her curly locks around her index, "the Asuki need to believe that_ all_ the metal is melted down to be part of the wall. If they knew we were building things from the pods, they'd wipe us off the planet, so we hide anything that isn't made of wood," she paused, "That, and people here are blessed with the curse of sticky fingers. If it isn't nailed down, it'll be gone within the hour."

"I see," Roxanne nodded thoughtfully, "where did you get this information, by the way?"

She shifted uncomfortably, "My customers get loose lips when I booze 'em up enough. Drunk men tell no lies."

Roxanne stood, handing her the coins and slowly walking to the door, "Well thank you, Miss…"

"Blossom," she shook Roxanne's outstretched hand.

"Your information retrieval skills may prove useful in the future, Miss. Blossom. In the mean time, keep an ear out for similar news. If you hear anything else, I'm staying at the Brass Bugle."

"Yes, of course. What's your name?"

"Richard Ritchi. Stay in contact."

Roxanne left hurriedly, spotting Mirth in the 'lobby' of the brothel blocking her exit. He was busy charming the wrinkly bawd, but not enough to not spot Roxanne.

"Ah, Richard! Out about the Towne I see," Mirth smiled charmingly

"I could say the same about you," Roxanne replied, "but I assume you here on business."

Mirth feigned sadness, "Alas, I am. But I have a knack for mixing business with pleasure," he showed off his sharp teeth in another smoldering smile, "after all, all work and no play makes Mirth a dull boy."

"Your anything but dull, Mr. Mirth," Roxanne said snidely.

"I must be doing something right then," Mirth turned back to the swooning woman, "I'll see you later Mr. Ritchi."

"Goodbye Mr. Mirth," Roxanne called, before whispering under her breath, "and good riddance."


	13. The fox that caught the hare

The fox that caught the hare

Ever since that day she came back from that delivery, Mirth had been sending her all over Town, dropping off a variety of rattling packages and picking up hefty sums as payment. Though whoever she was assigned to visit was immediately rude and pushy, she never once had any trouble after the _customer_ knew she was "Mirth's boy", as most of them put it. In fact, they were so busy falling over themselves to make good their promises with Mirth, that Roxanne usually had a few moments to snoop about. She hadn't found anything useful yet, but she felt like she was getting that much closer to finding what they needed. She did find out that the boxes usually either contained vials of assorted liquids or medical supplies; like plastic tubing, rubber gloves, needles, surgical tape, among other things. Well, she had a sneaking suspicion she was involved in something illegal, but what she didn't understand was why they were simply stockpiling the narcotics in warehouse upon warehouse. What was it all for? Who were the buyers?

Roxanne told this to Megamind who was just as stumped as she. He hadn't uncovered much more information than Roxanne had. All anyone seemed to know was someone up top was hording the rare parts, but the question was who?

"My bets on Mirth," Roxanne finally said, lying on her back in Megamind's room after supper.

Megamind looked up from his sketch pad, "Why do you say that?"

"Well think about it. He's got his sticky fingers in everywhere else, why not this," she reasoned.

Megamind drew a few more lines, "I suppose your right. He has a ton of influence; drugs, slaves, cars, the arena. But keep in mind he is only partial owner of all those- _trades_."

"Well maybe he's partial owner of the pods too."

"Ah, but that's the kicker. Everyone who actually knew anything told us it was a single company who stripped the shuttles. Not one suggested that there were multiple parties, so it must be a solo ownership."

"Well what if our informants just didn't know that much," Roxanne rolled over facing Megamind, "there is a possibility that it could be a single profiteer, but we need more solid information."

"That's what we've been slaving away trying to get for two weeks," Megamind said irately, "and we've turned up less than I'd hoped. We're going around in circles now."

"Well we've got to try harder," Roxanne sighed.

Megamind added another precise line to his sketch, "well I'm not sure how much more I can do locked up in that shop all the time. Mirth is pressuring me to finish this blasted contraption, and I _really_ don't want to arm him with a laser cannon that can shoot clean through five feet of sheet metal. I don't want to be on the receiving end, if you know what I mean."

"I know, I know," Roxanne slumped over the edge of the lumpy bed, "what we need is a miracle."

Suddenly, as if to answer her hopeless statement, a small pebble hit the window with an audible _tink. _Roxanne leapt over to the window and peered down as a second bounced off the window. She saw a cloaked figure with sad, wide amber eyes.

"A friend of yours," Megamind asked.

"Blossom," she answered, "we'd better go see what's up before she gets scared off. She might have important information."

Megamind was up and out the door before Roxanne had even left the window. She caught sight of the drawing Megamind had been working on for hours. At center stage was a half done sketch of a laser cannon wreathed by little thumbnail doodles of three dimensional shapes and a very accurate drawing of her lying on her back. She smiled at it warmly, turning for the door. She felt like she was going to get a crush on him if he kept up the cuteness.

Blossom took up Roxanne in a tight embrace as tears welled up in her eyes, "Oh Richard," she sobbed nuzzling her chest, "I'm so frightened!"

Megamind's eyes widened at the tiny red head clinging desperately to Roxanne. He silently asked what was going on, to which Roxanne made a face that made it clear it was a long story. Roxanne hushed and soothed Blossom as she led her to room eleven. With her she brought a mug of warm honeyed tea, letting Blossom nurse it till she settled down enough to speak coherently.

"Oh it was dreadful," Blossom sobbed softly, "I can't believe he killed her."

"Who killed who," Roxanne asked softly.

"My friend, Angel," her voice shook, "I asked her to help me out, and now - now they might come after me next! I should never have started snooping, it's taboo. I shouldn't have asked - I shouldn't have -Hell, I shouldn't even be here."

Blossom started to get up; Roxanne placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder which caused her to sink back into her chair, her lip quivering.

"I'm so sorry your friend got mixed up in this," Roxanne said softly bowing her head, "it shouldn't have happened. I'm sorry for encouraging you to seek out dangerous information like that," Roxanne looked up into her red rimmed eyes.

"No don't -," Blossom shook her head, not allowing Roxanne to finish, "It's not your fault Richard. We knew the dangers and I could have declined the job, but we got careless and slipped up."

Blossom wiped away her tears with her wrist, smudging her running mascara, "Right after you left I got with my roommate Angle and started planning out how we were going to find the information you wanted. We found a lead the other day from an old drunken Trog who apparently use to be part of the dismantling team until he got fired. Well, one bit lead to another and before we knew it we saw the strip yard itself. It has its own side entrance on the south east side of the gate so people don't get too curious as to what goes on in there. Angel and I went to go and follow one of the carts to the basement where they hide the best stuff, and they spotted her when we got too close," Blossom hiccupped, getting ready to let her tears spill over again, "and while I got away, one of the guards- he -," she started sobbing again, shakily holding up a blue pin with a decorative legged snake.

"Mirth," Roxanne said bitterly taking the pin gently from her grasp. Blossom had been holding it so tight and so long that a perfect red outline was etched into her trembling palm.

"One of his guard's badges," Megamind observed.

"I told you," Roxanne said smugly. She turned to comfort Blossom again, and it wasn't until a long while that she was successful.

Blossom fell asleep some time later, snuggled under Roxanne's sheets, "Well I won't be able to sleep in there tonight."

"Why not," Megamind jeered, "afraid your girlfriend will find out that you aren't packing?"

"No, I'm being a gentleman, "Roxanne said as she curled up on the bed.

Megamind smiled sleepily from the couch, "Alright, whatever you say, 'Mr. Man'. Good night."

Minion and Roxanne both mumbled replies, before settling down for the night.

0o0o0o0o

The next morning Roxanne found her room empty. Blossom had run off in the middle of the night, probably to return to the brothel. Megamind and Minion were going to check out the place Blossom had spoken of the night before, before they went into 'work'. Roxanne beat them to their usual table with the usual breakfast and saw the usual envelopes. Roxanne opened hers and read it silently. Megamind sat across from her and tucked into his plate of food.

"That's odd," Roxanne said aloud.

"What is," Megamind asked through a mouth full of sausage.

"Mirth wants me to report directly to him, something about not wanting a breach in security."

Megamind took the letter from her grip and read it over quickly while Minion read over his shoulder, "Something stinks, and it's not just this old tavern. Are you sure you should go?"

"What choice do I have? Mirth will think something's up if I don't show."

"Just be careful Miss. Ritchi," Minion cautioned, "you're going into the lion's den from the looks of it."

0o0o0o0o

So there she was, being guided down the vast hallways of Mirth's Mansion by the same snooty servant that usually took the payments and letters of receival. She noted his funny little walk, almost like a trained poodle tiptoeing around. She had fun imagining him as such.

The servant ushered her into the dead animal room, where Mirth gazed into the blazing hearth. He leaned on the cool stone mantle, leisurely swirling the last sip of wine in his crystal glass. He looked up, his face still and serene. As always he was well groomed and dressed to the T. He strode over slowly, with a pace that sounded like a slowly ticking grandfather clock. It set Roxanne on edge, her heart thudded nervously and she was starting to feel the need to back away slowly, but she kept her composure as she stood waiting by the couches. He took the love seat across from her, leaning casually back as a servant poured them both a glass of wine. She knew better than to decline, so she took hers despite the little voice that said she needed to stay alert.

"So, Richard, how have you been? It's been a while since we've spoken in person,"

Roxanne nodded, "It has hasn't it? I trust business has been good?

Mirth chuckled deeply, "Why, you should know, little Ritchi. You're the one that does the foot work," he took a sip of the crimson liquid in his glass in a painfully slow motion, "By the way, have you had any trouble with the position?"

Roxanne cringed at the nickname. She could already tell he was going to prolong her torture with small talk, dancing around the issue until he'd had his fun for the day. He was talking so slowly it seemed like he was trying to kill time, too. Roxanne had to be careful not to let her poker face slip; one false move could just very well end her. She suddenly found the irony of his name so overwhelming it was stupid. He was the bringer of anything but happiness as far as she was concerned.

Roxanne shrugged, "a few rough customers, but nothing I couldn't handle."

"I'm glad you're adjusting well to your new position. Our last messenger boy- well, couldn't quite cut it."

Roxanne absent mindedly took a tiny sip of wine, the way he had phrased that last comment made her heart jump, "Well I'm glad I am filling the need, sir."

"Indeed you are," Mirth smiled, "It's so hard to find good help now a days."

"I'd imagine they all headed to New Towne."

"They did. Even my mentor became tired of this place," he looked thoughtfully at his half empty glass, "and I suppose I grow tired as well."

Roxanne blinked at his sullen expression, "Sir?"

Mirth shook his head as if to disperse the melancholy thoughts, "Anyway, I hope you'll stay on with us a bit longer at least. The operation my corporation has been planning is finally coming to its climax. Those who have helped to make it possible will be greatly rewarded."

"And, what would the reward be, per say?"

"The single most sought after gift that this planet could give-," Mirth stood, quietly making his way over to Roxanne, "a pocket full of riches and-," He leaned down to whisper in her ear like it was a highly guarded secret, "Freedom."

Roxanne blinked at his statement with wide eyes, trying to understand how he could achieve this. Maybe he was building something to get rid of their captors with the fabled parts, but then what were the drugs for?

Mirth took her silence as shock and awe, "are you going to finish your wine Miss. Ritchi, or are you going to spill it over your lap."

Roxanne took a reflexive swallow before realizing a mistake in his address to her. She choked on her too large gulp for a moment before panting out, "pardon me?"

Mirth grinned like the fox that caught the hare, "You heard me Roxanne. Did you honestly think there were no recording devises in those rooms I gave you? I heard it all you little minx."

Roxanne face fell, "awe, shit," she groaned.

"Shit, indeed, little Roxy," Mirth said grimly, his face deadly serious, "You're in a world of it, little spying bitch."

Suddenly the room was spinning and dots began to burst before her eyes. Her knees buckled beneath her and she sank to the floor. She started getting tunnel vision and her head felt as if she was topping head over heels down a hole. He had spiked her drink.

"Well I'm screwed now," she thought miserably as she blacked out on the floor in a heap, "Way to go, Miss top reporter."


	14. The plan

**The plan (part 1)**

Megamind arrived in the musty Brass Bugle just before sunset. He found it devoid of a certain female character that he was growing more attached to every day. He pondered what could possibly take her so long in that dreadful mans house or wherever she may be. He paced the floor for a long time listening so carefully for Roxanne's footsteps that his ears were ringing. The sounds of evening began to stir below him. Rowdy men who were slowly becoming drunk sang out-of-tune lyrics and cat called the few women that worked the floor.

The darkening sky caused both the cyan hued biped and his ichthyoid companion to become distressed. Megamind's thoughts whirred in a downward spiral to one conclusion as the minutes ticked by, and the more he thought about it the more disturbed he became.

"Roxanne must be in some sort of trouble," he said aloud, "she wouldn't be out this late without some sort of notification."

"I agree, Sir," the softly glowing fish said, "should we start looking at Mirth's mansion?"

"It's the last place we know she was seen, but I doubt they'll tell us anything of great importance," Megamind huffed. He pulled on his new black coat adorned with all sorts of buckles and straps and turned the collar up so it nearly enveloped his slender neck, before storming out into the night.

He was walking at a break neck pace through the streets, his usually animated face a mask of determination. When he asked to see Mirth, his tone was deadly. The servant rushed to his master as if hell had sent its hounds snapping at his heels. He did not have to wait long to be beckoned forward by the same tamed pup as before. He led them to a lavish sitting room that featured mostly warm browns and greens. The lord of the mansion came striding in moments later, his white hair flowing freely and his jacket rumpled.

"It seems I'm intruding on your nightly activities," Megamind said as calmly as he could to the disheveled man, "so I'll make this brief. One of my companions has gone missing, and I have reason to believe that you might know where he is."

"And that would be," he asked innocently.

"Richard Ritchi," Megamind nearly growled.

"Ah yes! Mr. Ritchi came by earlier. How silly of me to forget," Mirth said lightly.

"You are the one who sent for him, Mr. Mirth. I would assume you'd remember."

Mirth shook his head with amusement, "do you have any idea how many people I have to see every day, Mr. Price? I'm a very busy man with a very tight schedule. As important as I am I can't keep track of every single person I have to attend to. Besides, he's probably out enjoying a cold one, or perhaps the company of a lovely lady?" Mirth raised his angular brows suggestively.

This man made Megamind's blood want to boil over. Though the urge to lunge at him was quite strong, he managed to hold his composure even as they were ousted from the mansion.

"She's in there", Megamind said darkly to Minion once they were on the busy street again, "I know she is."

"How are we going to get to her, Sir?"

"Well first we need a plan," Megamind said grinning to himself, his scheming mind already in motion, "a plan so brilliant that it radiates success."

0o0o0o0o0o

A large dark figure crept around to the normally busy house of Dr. Tim Osher. Stealing through the back door after picking the lock, he entered the portion of the house that had been converted into a doctor's office of sorts. He sorted through some labeled vials, taking a few from a case in a high cupboard before he slunk down the narrow hallway and entered the first room. Finding that it belonged to the good Doctor's master, whom was fast asleep, he snuck in with vial in hand. His bulky metal body bumped the overly littered coffee table, nearly knocking over a full ash tray. He caught it just in time, but spilt the ashes all over the laundry strewn floor. Resisting the urge to clean it up, he armed the vial with a needle. He stealthily pricked the slumbering slob and injected the sleep inducing formula into his veins. Satisfied that the mountain of cellulite was going to stay at rest, Minion removed his stalking cap and sigh with relief. The black cap had severely handicapped his ability to see so he thought it best to just do away with it for now.

Minion then went to the next room. It was small and cramped and had only a mattress and a thin blanket, which Dr. Osher wrapped himself in while trying to rest. Minion roused the bewildered doctor, telling him he was going to help him escape. Once Minion had cut his tether they rushed down the hall only to find a staggering heap of a man blocking their way.

"Where do you think you're going," he boomed, taking a swing at Minion's dome and missing. Minion ducked away and pushed the petrified Grey behind him. The grunting man started to sway, "you little grey-little-piece a-I'ma beat you-ugh," he smacked his lips in a revolting fashion before hitting the ground with a rumbling thud. Both the piscine and the skinny Grey sigh in relief.

"Thank you," Dr. Osher thought at Minion, "quick thinking, my fishy friend."

"Don't thank me, thank Megamind," Minion said proudly.

"Megamind," he questioned.

"He's the one that came up with the plan, and we rescued you in order to ask for your help."

"I see," the Grey snorted, "giving to get."

Minion flailed his arms, "No, no, no! You've got it all wrong! You don't have to help us, but we'd be most appreciative if you did."

The doctor chuckled softly, "don't worry your bolts off, kid. You helped me so it's the least I could do."

They found Megamind outside the seedy little tavern they agreed to meet at. A teary eyed Blossom stood silently at his side in a cloaked midnight blue mans uniform.

"Dr. Tim Osher," Megamind said somberly as he shook his hand, "thank you for coming."

"Thank you for sending Minion to rescue me, Mr. Mind," Dr. Osher thought at Megamind, "he was brilliant."

Megamind gave a weak smile, "Your welcome, and please, Megamind is fine."

Tim nodded, "so what's this about Richard getting kidnapped? Sounds like serious business."

"It is just that," Megamind replied, "we need to rescue him soon, or I fear we might be too late. I was hoping that the two of you would like to join in the hunt for the parts we need to complete our teleportation device so we can get off this blasted rock after rescuing Richard. We'll need to after this is over."

Blossom and Tim looked at one another for a moment before nodding in acknowledgement.

"Okay," Megamind said with a grin, "here's what we are going to do."


	15. Interrogation

**Interrogation**

Roxanne awoke against satiny sheets, appendages sprawled and the room swimming before her eyes. "_What happened? Where am I,"_ She cautiously wondered. She lifted an arm to her face to brush back the hairs that tickled her nose, only to find her wrist wouldn't budge. Her arms were tethered above her head and ankles shackled together. She sighed as she scooted back on the bed in order to have enough tether length to brush the offending strands away from her eyes.

She examined the bindings trying to find the locking mechanism on them, but saw that they were seamless. The tethers themselves were a strong metal mesh, so there was no use trying to cut through it. Roxanne sighed heavily and looked about the room. She guessed that she was still in Mirth's mansion, but the décor was different than most of the other rooms. It had no specific theme, though there was definitely favoritism towards the darker colors, and even though it was clean it was the only part of Mirth's home that looked lived in. There were awards and pictures dotting the room, though too far away to make out what they were, all except the small family portrait on the night stand.

Roxanne crawled closer to the delicate silver frame to take a closer look. There were three elegantly dressed people standing with a futuristic cityscape behind them. The most prominent of the figures was a tall white haired man that looked much like Mirth only with a strong jaw and a much more muscular body build. He was obviously a man of great importance, with many shining metals pinned to his lapel and a grand red and white tasseled sash strung across his shoulder. He was peering pridefully at an absolutely beautiful raven haired woman holding a tiny swaddled babe with the biggest blue eyes she'd ever seen. The father figure also had a strong reassuring hand on a young boy's shoulder, whom looked terrified. His ice blue eyes were round and wide, and his posture stiff with the effort of looking dignified.

Roxanne couldn't help but smile at his expression, but her amusement soon came to an end when a pale hand slowly put the picture face down. Roxanne's eyes traveled up the bare arm attached to the hand and came across the slightly annoyed, yet strikingly handsome face that belonged to none other than Mirth. His hair was dripping and he was surprisingly shirtless. Though she didn't find his lean, toned form unpleasant, she did find his presence unwelcome.

"Snooping about already, little spy," he smirked, "I didn't expect you to be awake by now."

His towel clad figure strode over to the walk in closet and disappeared, reappearing in what she guessed were his leisure clothes; black pants and a half buttoned white shirt. Roxanne did her best to convey her dissatisfaction without words. Her fearsome scowl would have made even Megamind proud, but Mirth was unimpressed. "_What could this little shrew possibly do to harm me,_" he chuckled to himself.

"_So what the hell is he going to do to me_," Roxanne thought grimly, as Mirth stared at her with cold eyes, _"the better question is what I'm going to do about it_."

"_She's awfully quiet- and angry looking_," Mirth thought to himself, "_I would have assumed she would start blubbering or bargaining like most caught mice do. Wonder what she's up to-."_

"_Shouldn't he be bragging about how smart he is for catching me. That's what villains do, right?"_ Roxanne's glare softened, "_I wonder what he's up to-._"

They both shifted uncomfortably.

Roxanne cleared her throat quietly so it wouldn't betray her rising fear. She spoke in the most daring tone she could muster, "so are you going to stare at me all day or are you going to do the whole bad guy shtick thing and get it over with."

Mirth's eyebrow rose almost comically. "_Bad guy shtick? Seriously? Who does she think I am? Some cheesy entertainer?" _A smile threatened to intrude upon his bleak expression, but he transformed it into some cruel parody of one before it blossomed, "_I think not_."

"How amusing that you think this is all some kind of act, but I assure you it isn't."

"Like I haven't heard that before," Roxanne said, getting a little more comfortable. Banter was something that she could do, and she could probably stall him this way until Megamind came up with something.

Mirth started to cross the other side of the room to where the liquor cabinet perched above a beautifully carved desk over flowing with paperwork. "You sound as if this isn't the first time you've been held against your will, Roxie. Do you hold rough company often?"

Roxanne's eye twitched at the nickname, "he's harmless enough, but I know for a fact what kind of slime you are," she nearly growled.

Mirth's eyes flickered at the challenge, "And what sort am I?"

"You're an evil, loathsome, gluttonous bottom feeder who preys on the weakness and greed of others."

"Ouch, that one hurt," he smirked, "but do you know what? You're just as bad little Missy, for spying on me for that blue pig."

"Who do you mean," Roxanne squinted at him, having a pretty good idea who he was referring to.

"He goes by many names now a days, but I believe you would know him by the name of Roux DuPont. Ring any bells?"

Roxanne pursed her lips, "It may. What's it to you?"

"Many things, Miss. Ritchi, many things," A sad smile nearly touched his eyes. He shook it away like a bad dream and poured a shot of warm liquor, slamming it back like he was trying to chase the devil down with it.

"Enough to need a strong drink for it," She pressed.

Mirth chuckled darkly, "one of the many reasons, but it's none of your concern."

"None of anyone's concern as far as I can see," Roxanne shook her head, "it's not healthy, you know, and you're just going to end up worse off than you already are if you keep it up."

Mirth looked up with a shocked expression, which crumpled into a fit of laughter. Not the forced titters that Roxanne had heard before but the full, rumbling guffaws that you feel in the pit of your stomach.

"Did I say something amusing?"

Mirth nodded. It took him a moment to calm the giggles bubbling from his throat before he could pant out, "It's not every day your captive worries for your health."

"Glad I mad your day, Mirth," Roxanne smiled guardedly.

He swiped back a few loose tendrils of his snow white hair that still hung loosely about his shoulders. When he turned his gaze to her again it held something softer, something bittersweet. He reluctantly shook that away too.

"How many are there," he said quietly, turning away.

Roxanne blinked, "Pardon me?"

"How many spies did DuPont send," he said a little louder.

"Just the three of us," Roxanne said quietly.

Mirth suddenly turned, "liar," he hissed. His eyes were cold as stone again, maybe even more so, "there is at least one more. Who is he?"

Roxanne's mind flitted to the other two that came with them. Grego and Ahi, neither of which she had seen nor heard from for a while. She didn't think he was referring to Grego, because he seemed to be thick as thieves with Mirth, so that only left Ahi. Where was he any way?

"I don't know what you're talking about," Roxanne insisted.

Mirth stalked over to Roxanne threateningly, "I will carve my name into your bones with a rusty spoon if that's what it takes to pry what I want from those pretty pink lips of yours, Roxanne." she had never heard her name said so deadly and yet so beautifully before. A shiver of fear tingled its way up her spine as he towered over her. "Now, tell me who your conspirator is."

Roxanne remained silent.

Mirth began to pace like a caged white tiger, his jaw locked, hand buried in his pockets as if to keep himself from lashing out. "Whoever he is, I'll admit he's good at not getting caught. He's been a thorn in my side ever since you came here. Raiding shipments, sabotaging equipment; he's killed fifteen of my men so far! Good, loyal, hard working men. Not to mention the setbacks! It's been bloody murder staying on schedule these past few weeks."

Roxanne furrowed her brow, "I have no idea what you're talking about." Truth be told, she didn't. She had no idea if it was Ahi's doing or not.

"I'm getting real sick of you lying to my face," Mirth growled

"And how do you know I'm lying," Roxanne challenged.

"I know you know something."

"Well what if I decide to lead you on a wild goose chase then," Roxanne huffed.

Mirth's eye twitched, he was about to say something but there came a quiet knock on the dark wood door.

"What?" Mirth sighed exasperatedly.

A stately servant came into the room quietly and whispered something into his master's ear, and left as swiftly as he came.

Mirth went to his closet and yanked a jacket on at random, "looks like your friends have finally come to rescue you, but I wouldn't waste my breath yelling for help. This room is sound proof," he said as he buttoned his shirt all the way, "I shan't be long".

He slammed the door behind him leaving Roxanne to throw herself on the bed with a heavy sigh and reluctantly ponder why he would even have a sound proof bedroom in the first place.

***** Spoiler Alert!*****

_I'm starting to ponder whether or not to let them have a mushy moment, but I kinda feel like it would be unfaithful to Megamind since she knows she likes him and junk, and Mirth is too manly for anything too sappy… idk. What do you all think? ((Mirth isn't as bad as we think he is btw, so don't be hating on him to hard)). _

_Also, I drew a prettyful picture just for you on deviant art (meatpuppet111). It's Mirth in the dead animal room._

GIVE ME REVIEWS OR GIVE ME DEATH! lol =D


	16. Operation undercover

_I'm back in business people, and I've got a few new chapters I've been writing for just for you in my period of solitude. I apologize for the prolonged delay, but it could not be avoided. Enjoy, comment, and nag away people! =D_

**Operation undercover**

Four beings moved quickly through the dirty streets, silent as the shadows that hid them. The smallest and most feminine of the group was at the head, leading them to a high metal wall with a sign proclaiming it to be a junkyard. A grappling hook was slung up the ten foot wall, hitching at the top with a small "clink". They each scaled the wall, two of the more inexperienced members having difficulty ascending the rope. Once all were up and over, the hook was retrieved and stowed in the chest cavity of the largest of the group.

They hid amongst the scraped metal siding that littered the yard in heaps. Two guards in cloaked midnight blue uniforms stalked the premises around the warehouse, but they seemed only half alert and more than a little bored.

"Alright Blossom," Megamind whispered, "its show time!"

The vertically challenged girl steeled herself and put on the best man face she could muster and tugged at brim her cap. She walked with deliberate steps, careful to not sway her hips. She strode up to the two now alert guards and saluted them with a balled fist over her heart, the guards mimicked her.

She relaxed some and said in a deep voice, "There are a couple of suspicious characters lurking around the outer premises."

"I had better go take a look," one bulky character said as he speed off in the direction from which she came.

The other looked down at her with scrutinizing eyes, "A little young to be on the force, aren't you?"

She puffed out her painfully flattened chest, "I'm older than I look."

They suddenly heard a muffled thump that sounded suspiciously like a club knocking someone over the head. The other guard rushed off into the dark as well, leaving Blossom standing there alone. Another muffed bonk resounded in the junk yard and after a few moments, two figures wearing their baggy uniforms marched up to her.

"Not very bright were they," Minion whispered, with forget-me-stick in hand, "I expected that to be more of a challenge."

"Don't get cocky Minion," Megamind said softly, "there is still much to do."

"Where are we going to get a uniform for me," the doctor interjected quietly.

Megamind looked about, "wait out of sight for now, I think I hear someone coming."

Dr. Osher ducked out of sight just as a couple of guards came marching over, " 'ey, you! W'at are you doing? You're not paid to loaf."

"Sorry sir," Blossom stuttered.

Megamind stood up a little straighter, "there was a minor disturbance at the south wall."

"Has it been taken care of," another guard asked.

"Affirmative."

"Then get in here and help us load the next shipment, were behind schedule enough as it is," the guard bellowed.

Megamind and Minion rushed inside but the guard stopped Blossom with a green baseball-mitt-size hand, "you stay put shrimp. We don't need you getting in the way."

Blossom looked worriedly after the retreating figures of Megamind and Minion, "I hope this ends well," she grumbled.

The duo found themselves lifting several unlabeled crates into a wagon pulled by a great hairy beast that smelled worse than a herd of camels. To Megamind's dismay the smell lingered on the stolen cloaked garb.

"Ugh! I smell worse than a petting zoo," he griped, once the cart was loaded, "no need to see in the dark when you can follow this beast's stench."

"Well w'at do you expect from a great 'airy beast, eh? S'ould et smell fresh as a daisy, lad," a guard chortled as he fastened the harness to the living mass of brown-green fur.

"Must be a newbie on the force, eh son," another huffed in a southern twang as he loaded the last of the crates, "best stay on your, I say, best stay on your toes, son. It's the fellas with no experience unda' their belts that keel over first, when we're in the thick of it, that is."

"Um, pardon," Megamind asked.

The bird-man leaned over to the other four shielding his mouth from Megamind's view and spoke in an exaggerated stage whisper, "Sharp, I say, I said sharp as a sack o' wet leather this one is."

The group chuckled heartily and started to disperse. They took up defensive positions around the cart and so did the anxious spies. The avian continued to ramble, encouraged by the positive reaction, to which the nearest guard responded with a loud and drawn out, "AHHHHHhhhhh, shad'dap!"

No one spoke for a long time as they silently marched through the less active side of town. Bums and drunks slumped in littered alleyways, as rats scrabbled about. The men jump aside when a muffled call came from above to, "look out bellow," before fetid water splashed the mud encrusted streets, or at least Minion hoped it was mud. The group guided the cart down a narrower and less populated side road. Nervous knots twisted in the pit of every ones' stomach while they listened for any movement ahead. There were none, so they pressed on at a brisk speed.

It was the tap of feet against stone that alerted them to the sudden appearance of several hooded figures ambushing the cart from one of the pitch black alleyways. The guards drew their pistols and fired at the aggressors the first fell causing the one behind to trip over his body and roll to his feet, the others sprang over nimbly with light taloned feet. Red laser fire streaked in Megamind's peripheral vision knocking some offenders on their backs or made them skitter out of the way. A shrouded adversary leapt at him from above. Megamind fired his own weapon, reducing his assailant into an incandescent cerulean cube. Minion struggled with his own spry opponents, whom were fairly good at dodging his more clumsy attacks. Megamind aided his companion by dehydrating the foes for him as well. As quickly as the ambush came it ceased, the last few dragging their beaten comrades into the shadows and out of harm's way.

"Damn bloody beasts," spat one of the guards. He held a bloodied rag to his cheek where three long gashes marred his emerald skin, "Everybody still alive?"

There were acknowledgements grunted all around the cart. Megamind bent to pick up the three blue cubes and deposited them inconspicuously in his pocket.

"How about you, fresh meat, still alive and kicking I see," he said as he checked the fastenings on the covered crates.

Megamind straightened his uniform, "apparently so. Was that what you were talking about earlier? That wasn't so bad."

"No, but they'll come back for more shortly, especially since they've tasted blood now," he growled throwing the crimson soaked cloth to the ground in disgust, "Those thieving rats aren't any better than the Razorbacks. They should all be put out of our misery."

"How long has this been going on," Megamind asked as they continued on.

"Not long," The guard answered, turning the collar of his cloak up against the chilly night air, "this is the third time in the last few weeks. Lord Mirth ain't none too please by it; been running himself ragged trying to pin these suckers."

"What do you suppose they do with it?"

"My guess is as good as any. We don't even know what lord Mirth does with all these parts. I'm pretty sure some go into the derby cars, but why would you need dark matter fuel cells for anything other than a space craft? He's got enough to build a whole fleet."

Megamind lagged behind him to walk just in front of Minion while he pondered this new tidbit of information. Things weren't adding up. What significance did drugs and fuel have in this whole plot? How did this whole charade become so complicated anyway? All he needed was a fuel cell, a salvageable printed circuit board, and possibly a can of black spray paint; was that too much to ask for?

It wasn't much later that a horde of cloaked figures came from behind, coming thick and fast. They fired their weapons as they ran from the attackers, urging the lumbering cart beast into a brisk gallop. A few clambered onto the clattering cart and kept the thieves at bay while two more stretched out a wire net fixed with many black nodules between them. It was flung it over several assailants and they began to twitch violently as if being electrocuted. A few others tossed foul smelling smoke bombs into the perusing crowd. The creatures scattered and fled, clutching their faces.

"Come on boys, were almost there," one of the guards exclaimed as a strangely well guarded building appeared when they rounded another corner. Running toward the building Megamind noticed the guards take up defensive positions around the perimeter and point their guns in their direction. Laser fire whizzed past the cart and pelted the next wave of pursuers. Megamind was now feeling the ache of the lactic acid building up in his legs from the exertion of running, and his lungs felt dry and ragged from breathing the smoggy air as quickly as he was. Huffing heavily he pressed on and kept up until exhausted and winded the band made it into the dimly lit building pretty much unscathed.


	17. Discovery

**Discovery**

Megamind leaned against the cart as he gasped for air like a fish out of water. His lungs felt like two old, scratchy dish towels for what seemed like a terribly long time. After a few minutes of rest his breathing began to slow and he finally took the opportunity to look around at his surroundings. The men he had traveled with were still recuperating from their mad dash to the safety of the old stone warehouse. Megamind's eyes widened at the sight of the mountains of boxes that were piled in every corner of the expansive storage facility. The crates that they had brought were already being placed alongside the others. He quickly estimated there to be at least a hundred and fifty crates. Of what, he wasn't sure, but he was pretty sure he'd get some answers from that important looking door at the back of the room.

Every now and then some guards would appear from behind a heavy iron door to take some boxes with them and came back empty handed only to carry down more. Every time the door swung open he glimpsed stairs heading downward into a tight passageway. Megamind figured whatever was underground must be important, so he started to ponder how he would get in without making a scene. He didn't have to ponder long before an important looking figure stomped over.

"Alrigh' ya lazy lumps, you've h'd yur rest," he shook a stubby padded finger at them, "Na get a move on 'fore I feed ya ta th' razorbacks!"

They all lazily stood and sauntered over to the pile of crates, Megamind did his best to mimic their displeasure in having to move though he was eager to find out what was going on behind that door. They each took one box up and proceeded past the threshold and into the narrow staircase cautiously. The stairs ended at another door that was accompanied by a caged red light and a sign that read:

**When red light is on, proceed with caution in lab. If flashing, do not enter!**

The door slid open and they advanced further into the room that smelled of something wet and sour with a hint of burning metal. Megamind put down his crate and was given another smaller one to take to the "back room". He motioned for Minion to stand guard and keep a lookout for anything unusual. As he walked slowly his keen eyes took in the flurry of mechanical activity throughout the antechamber. Familiar looking vials were taken from the wooden crates and were placed on a conveyer belt to be whisked away and picked up by another contraption, disappearing into its inner workings. The contents were then dumped into a large vat where it was churned and heated and large amounts of vapor rose from the solution, which was funneled off into some other area. The vat slowly trickled into another smaller tub were it was once again simmered while the last bit of vapor trailed away and left a thick gel in its place. The gel oozed into a series of windowless chambers that hissed and fizzled as they worked. At the end of all this was a carousel where the machine dispensed tiny black spheres now and again, which were hardly larger than a marble. The spheres were then carefully place by hand onto a small trolley tray.

Though He could find neither rhyme nor reason for it, he concluded that they were condensing the stock pile of narcotics into these capsules. From what he had heard, the drugs as they were, were already very potent if not _deadly_. Condensing it as much as this machine did could kill a blue whale easily. The only thing these innocent looking orbs could possibly bring was immediate death. Megamind's stomach churned at the thought, and his face grew paled.

He pushed his way through a set of double doors which spilled out into a large area separated by a plane of blast poof glass. On one side was a long, narrow metal table cluttered with spidery looking holders; on the other was a great many black cases with questionable contents. He set his load down and lingered there to observe the activities of this room.

The crates were unpacked by the workers to reveal glass globes that had a crosshatch of lines etched into its surface and delicate spiraling tubes that reached down almost to its hollow center. They were placed in the holders which gently opened them like fragile glass flowers all along the table. The trolley that held the deadly capsules pushed its way past the double doors and was brought up alongside, where they were then placed into the center of the open globes. Each closed like a ravenous Venus flytrap and sealed with a sound "snick" before they were piled onto the trolley and taken into the separate area. The man pushing the trolley left to get another while a different group placed the now black centered globes into the single empty socket in each nearly full case.

Though he wasn't one hundred percent sure of what the other globes contained, he did realize that they had a strikingly similar appearance to the dark matter fuel cells he had been searching for. Enough fuel to construct a fleet of ships - or to inconspicuously hide the lethal decoys.

The communicator on his wrist crackled and Minion's voice hissed urgently, "Sir! We've got a problem!" The watch went silent and before he could respond a big meaty hand with tattooed knuckles fell upon his shoulder and he jumped. He recognized that hand, and unfortunately enough for him the hand's owner recognized him. Grego stood there large as life, griping his shoulder with near bone crushing force. He smirked cockily as he leaned down to come face to face with Megamind, "caught you red handed, punk."

Megamind's eye twitched slightly as disgust rose in his throat. How dare he touch the master of all villainy! In one swift move he took his sharp elbow and rammed it into Grego's stomach, winding him and freeing his person, and brought the heel of his boot up to his nose in a well planted round house kick. The result of which ended in a revolting crack that was all the proof Megamind needed to tell him that Grego's nose was thoroughly broken. Megamind dashed through the double doors into the condensing room and up the stairs to the warehouse. He came to a full stop at the sight of his captured friend. A sledge hammer poised in one alien's grasp above his dome while two others held him to the floor. He knew full well what they were planning to do. Grego stumbled up the stairs, clutching his nose turned faucet, and glared at him with red eyed fury.

"Break my d'ose will ya," he shouted, his voice and pronunciation sounded off because of the crushed nasal passages, "I'll break your face!" His clumsy punches were narrowly dodged by Megamind, but a shovel to the back of the head from a hidden opponent was the last thing he expected. He sank to his knees in a daze and tried to regain his footing but he wasn't quick enough to avoid a square punch to the jaw that sent him flying across the room and into a complete daze. Grego strode up to the nearly unconscious Megamind and frowned.

"You should consider yourself lucky my boss wants you alive," he spat, menace in his eyes, "I've killed for less d'han d'his". He turned and waved some men over, "Sack 'em."

A bag much like the one he used on Miss Ritchie blackened his vision and he thought to himself as they dragged his now bound form away, "If I live, I had better remind Minion to wash the bag."


	18. Accusation

**Accusation**

If there was one thing above all others that Megamind despised, it was that damn conceited smirk on Mirth's face. It reminded him way too much of Metro-loser as he was dragged across the floor by his collar into a downstairs basement. The grimy floor scraped against his stolen uniform until Grego let his head fall against the floor.

"Ah! My giant blue head," He complained as the headache he received earlier pulsed at his temples.

Minion's tied up ape suit was dragged not far from where he lay, but thankfully he looked fine. "Sir, are you okay," he fretted, eye round with fear for his master.

"I'm fine, Minion. Don't be such a worry wart," he groaned. It was almost a lie. He really felt like he'd had his head kicked in. He sat up slowly, squinting one watering against the pain. He brought his bound hands up to his face to assess the damage. One swollen eye that would later bloom into a black fist shaped bruise, and a few oozing scrapes on the back of his head. The silently thanked evolution for giving him a thick hide, and turned his attention to Mirth.

Mirth looked a little less formal than usual. He was slumped over on a backward facing chair in a crinkled long sleeved button up and plain slacks. His wickedly white hair splayed on his shoulders and gave him an untamed look in combination with the dark circles under his eyes. He was obviously having a rough day. Megamind smiled at that.

Mirth blinked his eyes slowly, and wearily. His jaw clicked side to side in an irritated fashion like he was grinding his sharp teeth. He opened his mouth to speak but shut it and shook his head, frowning.

"You really are a pain in my ass, Mr. Megamind, you really are," he said at last. He was quiet for a moment as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "You've made a fool out of my personal guard, infiltrated and stolen from my warehouses, caused a riot, burned down a facility, and compromised my whole operation." He stood and shouted, "I should have done away with you the moment Grego told me you were working for DuPont!"

"I've done no such thing," Megamind scowled, "and where's your proof, anyhow?"

"I've been watching you and your little party very closely, Megamind. Everywhere you are spotted there is some sort of mischief running amuck. And now your little Q and A sessions with half the town have started rumors about what business I'm really in. They listen in you know," Mirth pointed up to the ceiling, a half crazed look in his eye, "are you trying to kill us all?"

"No, all I've been trying to do is get off this rock," Megamind huffed.

"Ya? Well get to the back of the line," Mirth motion behind himself violently with his thumb, "but it's fools like you that butt into things that they don't understand that make a mess of things, like that silly girl you brought with you."

Megamind's heart gave a fearful shudder and his eyes latched on to Mirth's, "Where's Miss Ritchie?"

Mirth's eyebrows rose, "Oh, remembered your feisty little shrew at long last have we?"

"Where is she?"

Mirth smiled sinisterly, "You know, she's quiet the looker without that awful hat. I was thinking about selling her on the black market, but she's much to pretty for that. I might just keep her for my own entertainment."

"Where is she?"

"Oh I'll get bored eventually," he continued on, "But it'll be fun to break that fiery spirit of hers."

Megamind could take no more. Throwing himself up on his feet he dashed at Mirth. Wrists bound and fingers entwined, he used his clasped hands to club him over the head. The horned fiend fell aside and he refocused his attention on the now charging guard. He ran forward and jumped in a way that landed a hard kick squarely in the guard's chest. He lay groaning on the floor as Megamind cut his bindings and rushed to Minion's side cutting his bindings as well.

The duo rushed up the stairs to find an escape route, choosing to follow the larger hall than the narrower one. In a short time they found themselves in a very elegant part of the mansion.

"I don't think we're getting any closer to the exit, Sir," Minion said.

"We aren't looking for an exit just yet, Minion," Megamind answered as if it was the obvious answer.

"Then you believe Miss Ritchie is still here, Sir?"

As if to answer his question a muffled womanly shriek met their ears through the door at the end of the hall. "Roxanne," Megamind shouted as he rushed to it, busting down the door of a well furnished bed room.

Lashed to the bed lay the helpless Roxanne as she lay at the mercy of a crowd of small, white, fluffy creatures. She was squealing and straining to get away from them while - laughing uncontrollably?

Tears streamed down her face as the soft, cute things licked at her face and feet. She pleaded in between gasps and laughs to help her, "Please! I can't breathe!"

Minion shooed them away and Megamind untied her, relived and yet somehow angry. Roxanne huffed and clutched at her stomach, "Who knew laughing was so painful," she panted, "I think I nearly busted a seam there."

"By the way you were screaming, I would have thought they were turning you inside out," Megamind said as he pulled her to her feet, "Come on we've got to get out of here."

"Not so fast," someone growled from behind them. Megamind and gang spun around to face a very disgruntled Mirth holding a very big firearm, "now you're all going to accompany me back to the cellar, nice and civil like, and we are going to have a little chat. Savvy?"

Who could argue with the guy that had the big gun? They marched single file back to the basement were they were brought uncomfortable chairs to sit on. Megamind looked glumly at the gun he had mostly designed as he was tied to the chair. He knew that very gun was going to get pointed at him at some point. He sighed and began to loosen the ropes discreetly as soon as he was fastened to the chair. This master escape artist would not be tied down for long. Now the only problem was figuring out how to get away safely with Minion and Roxanne in tow.

He puzzled, and unknotted, and half listened to Mirth ramble. Destroyed property this, grand theft that - blah, blah, blah. Same old story, different planet. And he didn't even do anything this time, for crying out loud! He now had the ropes completely loose and was pretending to be tied up. A yank of the wrist and he could leap into action. Now what action to take?

As he pondered, a cloaked figure descended the shadowy stairs with two more figures dragging behind but unbound. As they came closer he recognized all three, much to his dismay. Blossom and Dr. Osher shuffled in rather meekly behind the lithe figure of the elusive Ahi.

"I found those two that were working with them," Ahi said in a humdrum tone, pushing them toward the light, "and boy do I have bad news for you."

_**Muahahahahaha! Cliff hanger! And Ahi is back, hurray! Updates soon to come, but don't despair dear readers. I won't take too long to update, but the more feedback you send the faster I'll post! Please leave your comments, questions, and concerns using that poor neglected review button below. Thank you!**_


	19. Well ain't that a bitch

**Well ain't that a bitch**

"I found those two that were working with them," Ahi said in a humdrum tone, pushing them toward the light, "and boy do I have bad news for you."

Mirth groaned, lowering the gun and slumping into a chair, his hand went up to cradle his pale face, "What now? Is the sky falling?"

Ahi's eyebrows quirked at the sarcasm, "no, you've been hounding the wrong guy," he said wryly, "DuPont has had you chasing these witless wonders about town while he's been right under our noses this whole time," he turned to the three sitting tied up, "no offence."

"None taken," Megamind grimaced and muttered under his breath, "jerk."

Mirth shot up from his chair so fast Megamind swore he didn't see him move. He got right up in Ahi's face and whispered in a deadly tone, "You're sure"?

"Have I ever failed you, my lord," Ahi flourished, a light smile on his face, "I speak nothing but the truth."

Mirth's face twitched and he turned on his heal stalking slowly toward Grego, who backed away cautiously. "Now sir," he said holding his red furry arms up weakly, "let me explain."

Mirth whipped out his hands and had the Minotaur pinned against the wall behind him as he fisted the lapels of his jacket. "You said you were sure," he roared, his eyes a blaze with pure fury, "You swore to me you knew for certain that they were the main party. You were to make sure!"

Grego gulped and fidgeted, "I guess I made a - mistake?" He grinned sheepishly.

"A mistake," howled Mirth, lifting the helpless Grego off his cloven feet, "a mistake is something like a spelling error, you big galoot! You just royally screwed over everything! Do you have any idea what he's planning to do?"

"No, we don't know," Megamind interrupted, hands now comfortably in his lap and foot across his knee, "and since our name has been cleared, I think we all deserve an explanation."

Mirth released Grego who fell into a heap on the floor, and he dusted his hands off on his shirt like he had touched something unclean. He looked long and hard into Megamind's eyes and clenched his jaw, "Very well. Since you already have most of the pieces, I guess I might as well fill in the gaps.

He straightened his appearance, cleared his throat, and spoke in a tone that one would think only a wizened sage would use -.


	20. The tale of two beasts

Okay, so I've finally finished this chapter. Been working out the kinks that I've caught, and I'm sure there are more, but if you are confused or don't like something please tell me. If you like it, even better, review anyway! thanks =)

**The tale of two beasts**

He straightened his appearance, cleared his throat, and spoke in a tone that one would think only a wizened sage would use.

"My Father was the Lead Council Member of a vast race of humanoids called the Asuki. He was almost a king you could say, but there hadn't been one of those since the first Interplanetary Coalition. His power was balanced out by the other members of The Board and the decision of the populous. He was happy to serve the people in any way he could, but in doing so caused tensions to rise from within. The Board did not appreciate some of the laws that were passed, mostly because it lost them money and loosened their grip on how things were run. With jealousy and greed in their hearts, they cause an upheaval of government, during which my father was slain. My Mother, younger Brother and I were captured and became political prisoners in our own home."

"The Board members soon decided one planet wasn't good enough for them. They created battle cruisers and drafted millions of unwilling civilians into their colossal armada. They encouraged women to have as many children as possible too, in order to have many fresh young men and women to replenish their army. After much preparation they sprung an attack on a large farming planet so we could control their resources. The Interplanetary Coalition took up arms against the Asuki, waging war with them for quite a while before they were subdued. After taking total control of the Coalition, they needed a place to dump their prisoners. They chose this place after taking over as punishment to the people for hiding a very valuable treasure deep, deep underground in a place they could not reach. I was barely ten years old when that happened and we were sent here. It was half burned to the ground and the other half was infested with the worst sort of things imaginable, with which we found ourselves fighting for resources. Most of the locals were driven off the island by disease and the lack of food, but some stayed, determined to rebuild but failing. I don't know how I survived those first years before the fort was built, but my poor Mother and brother did not live to see it. In part, I am glad they did not live to witness the atrocities of this Towne, as well as my own."

He paused, pain flickering over his features, and an absent minded hand fingering the cold metal of the pendent that hung from the end of his left horn. He pressed his thumb against the character there that stood for "Wealth and Happiness". He smiled sadly at the irony and continued.

"There was a very brilliant, but very broken noble Azureian who came here not long after the Towne was constructed. He was a splendid inventor, and brought a lot of good into this dreary place. He helped many of the local inhabitants who had grown dependent on drugs and alcohol to cope with the drastic changes they had experienced. He got them on their feet and helped them regain some of their cultural identity back, and in return they gave him their undying trust and loyalty. But when he heard that his home world was sucked into a black hole created from one of the inventions that he had designed, he went a little funny in the head. He swore he would kill every last Asuki if it was the last thing he did, and he nearly started with me a few times. Luckily I was witty and quick and narrowly escaped every time we encountered one another. I tried to reason with him and convince him it was only the governments fault, not the fault of my people, but he was stubborn and convinced we were all to blame. He calmed down eventually, but when he did he picked up his possessions and took off with a group that said they were going to build a members only town where the riff-raff wasn't invited. He still sends assassins now and then, just to keep me on my toes. Our battles have become so infamous in fact, that our family crests' symbolize our place of residence; New Towne as the proud hairy beast and Old Towne as the fearless legged serpent."

"well, that explains it", interrupted Megamind, "I was wondering what the battling animal theme was about."

Mirth nodded, "And he believes death is the only answer to solve his problems. A life for a life, one race for another. So he's been rebuilding this machine of his for a while so he can send a black hole to my home world and destroy it. The only thing that will do is kill innocent people and swallow up the solar system, this planet including."

"He's willing to sacrifice his own family for revenge," Roxanne gasped, "he really is insane."

"If I know old Roux, he probably has a ship hidden away somewhere so he can whisk his family to safety after he activates his machine," Mirth steepled his hands in his lap, "and leave everyone else to die. That's why he cannot be allowed to take any more dark matter. It's density would allow him to create a black hole without imploding a whole star, and is the main component to the device. Then he just ships it through that teleportation apparatus you built him and boom, a black hole is born."

"And what about your plan, isn't it deadly too," Megamind asked.

"Mr. Megamind, you assume too much. The drugs I have been refining are simple hallucinogens. I take out the extra fluids, remove the addictive qualities, and pressurize it to the point where when they are activated they turn into a large quantity of gas. We hide them in a product that we sell to an Asuki merchant ship, say dark matter fuel cells, and they take off with it unwittingly. As soon as they get into orbit, we release the gas which incapacitates the ones on board long enough to get a crew up there to fly it to the next target."

"Which I'm guessing has the Asuki Board leaders aboard," Megamind filed in when Mirth failed to continue, "am I correct?"

Mirth nodded solemnly, "yes."

"And I'm guessing that Earth will eventually become involve if you should fail, yes?"

Mirth nodded again, "Yes."

Megamind sighed exhaustedly, looked over at his companions who were looking back at him expectantly. Roxanne placed a hand on his, "we've come this far with you, Megamind, and we're still right behind you."

Megamind mimicked her smile, before heaving a dramatic sigh, "Oh, alright! As much as I dislike most of the pasty, mindless drones on that puny planet, I suppose I could assist if you should need it. But first," he turned to Grego and punched him square in the jaw with as much force as he could muster, shaking his slightly throbbing knuckles after, "no one bruises my handsome face and gets away with it!"


	21. Half way home

**Half way home**

It was a warm and blissfully quite day in the greenhouse. Though the world outside was boisterous and chaotic, the only sounds that penetrated the lush embrace of the magnificent greenery was the babble of flowing water and the call of strange birds. A brilliant stained glass roof let sunlight stream into the verdant room with occasional patches of blue or green filtering in from the colored sections of the abstract above. Roxanne Ritchie sat idle by an indoor fountain that was in the shape of (and not so surprisingly) a coiled serpent with his head lifted to the heavens, while a stream of sparkling water surged from its mouth. The more she stared at the bronze statue the more doleful the bejeweled eyes and painful grimace seemed. Water trickled down the serpent's snout and leaked along the eyelid to give it the effect of weeping. "_But why does it weep_" she puzzled passively. She sighed in boredom and swirled the water at the edge with absentminded strokes of her finger tips. Small curious fish came to ogle her hand and occasionally would painlessly nibble at it. It tickled and she chuckled softly. She leaned over the edge of the pond and a few locks of hair hung down in front of her eyes. As she looked at the auburn tresses, she noted how long it was getting.

Nearly six months, that's how long she had been gone from Earth. She hadn't even thought much about the passage of time since she had took up reluctant residence in Mirth's mansion, accompanied by Minion and Megamind of course, though she rarely saw much of the latter. He was always off making something or out getting something done, of which she was envious. As directed by Mirth, she was not to leave the premises for her own safety. She, being an independent spirit had a hard time with being locked away, so whenever she had time to herself she would sneak out and visit Blossom and Dr. Osher who were now in hiding, you could say.

After visiting his father in secret, the doctor decided to stay in Old Towne where he was needed. Dr. Osher took up the name Dr. Resho when he was working, and once again was a very popular doctor to visit. Aside from the fact he wasn't a quack, he now had a cute assistant working at the front desk. Roxanne was so glad Blossom didn't have to work at that whore house anymore; since she paid for her freedom with the money Roxanne gave her that one time.

Through her visits she learned that Blossom was the daughter of a wealthy merchant, and had learned how to navigate and fly fairly well from him before he was captured and put to death for smuggling people out of the star system. Mirth was impressed by the spunky red head when she stopped by to see Roxanne one day. She had nearly demanded to join their cause, and with a strange look on his face he agreed. Roxanne couldn't really pinpoint what it was besides flustered. Roxanne laughed aloud at the thought of Mirth being flustered buy such a tiny woman.

"Did I miss a joke, Miss Ritchi," asked a familiar smooth voice, "or are the days of solitude getting to you."

Roxanne turned toward Megamind with a flirty smirk pulling at the corners of her mouth, "I'm afraid so," she sighed, and placed the back of her open hand across her forehead, "Your plot to destroy the remnants of my sanity is starting to prevail, bravo dear villain!"

He smiled and played along, "At last you have fallen for my trap. Muahaha! And now you must submit to my evil will."

Roxanne raised an eyebrow, "and what, pray tell, would your 'evil will' entail?"

Megamind got quiet for a second and stroked the thin line of hair on his chin thoughtfully like one would a loyal pet, and shrugged, "Do you want to test my new inventions?"

Roxanne followed him to his work area were Megamind began to enthusiastically show off his latest creations; which included strange full-face gas masks, small ray guns that could stun their targets with one zap, and a utility belt that Batman would be jealous of.

"This button here is a communicator, and this one supplies smoke pellets, this clip is a grappling hook, this is a tracking beacon/locator, this disables locking mechanisms, this is a modified version of my holo-watch, and this is a coffee dispenser."

Roxanne raised an incredulous brow, "a coffee dispenser? Where did you find room for the coffee?"

Megamind pouted, "Now, now ," he chided, a leather clad index ticked back and forth like a metronome, "An evil genius never reveals his secrets."

"I don't suppose they have cream and sugar aboard an alien space craft," Roxanne said sarcastically.

"My dear miss Ritchi, there's no need for that," Megamind grinned, "It's already included."

He pressed the button and held out his hand expectantly toward the belt. A white paper cup materialized in his hand, filled with the piping hot caffeine beverage. He took a sip and nearly spat it back out, declaring it to have burnt his tongue.

"Hmm, impressive," Roxanne teased.

"I'm going to have to fix the temperature setting before finishing it," he grumped, taking another experimental sip after a moment. He turned away from her and hunched over the belt on the workbench.

Roxanne leaned on the edge of the bench and laid her chin in her hand. "I still don't understand," she said quietly.

"Understand what," Megamind asked as he picked carefully at the wiring within the belt with specialized tools.

"Why you insist on being the villain. It's not really your forte, when compared to recent events."

Megamind snorted, "And I suppose heroism is?"

"Yes, it is. It suits you. And after hanging around you for so long, I fail to see one evil bone in your body."

Megamind's lips twitched upward in a seductive smile, "Oh I'm sure there is at least one, Miss Ritchie. Would you like to examine closer?"

Roxanne's cheeks tinted red when she caught the innuendo, and smacked his bicep with the back of her hand, "Besides the fact that you have a tendency to turn much of what I say into something sexual, no there isn't."

"Ow," he said pouting in mock pain, "that hurt."

Roxanne cocked an eyebrow at him, "your arm?"

"My evil pride," Megamind quipped, turning back to the jumble of wires.

Roxanne leaned further into her hand, "I'm starting to think most of that big head of yours is dense skull."

Megamind chuckled through his nose but didn't look up.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Dinner was more rowdy than usual with the arrival of a few guests. The whole gang was there; Ahi, Grego, Roxanne, Megamind, Minion, Blossom, Dr. Osher; and gracing the head of the table, Mirth. Roxanne let her eyes settle on several characters before her and went over the things she had learned about them in the recent weeks due to snooping.

Ahi Tibbs was a grand champion knife fighter from the time he was nine till he had turned sixteen. He was kicked out after his sponsor had been killed in a bar fight, due to lack of funding, and started kicking up trouble where ever he went. But then he met Mirth, who took him under his wing and turned him into one of the most bad ass spies Roxanne had ever heard of. Though still in his early twenties, he put James Bond to shame even without the fancy gadgets.

Grego was a bright eyed fleet commander who was captured and sent here when his ship broke down. Apparently, after being pelted by heavy fire and risking life and limb just to get back to the Mother Ship, he was abandoned by his cowardly fleet and his crew members were tortured to death. After being sent here, Mirth took a liking to him and they've been sort-of- friends-but-not-quite ever since.

Dr. Tim Osher (much to Roxanne's surprise) was the creator of the refined drug, but its original purpose was to lessen the pain or knock out his patients as he worked on them. After a time Mirth came to him and wanted to buy the formula for a 'pet project' he was working on. At first the doctor was reluctant, but Mirth became more insistent and offered a huge sum of money to him. He finally agreed but he wanted his payment through bought goods such as medical supplies and the unrefined drug, which explains the packages she had to deliver. Upon asking him why he wanted his payment in goods, he said that this way his 'master' couldn't skimp out on the basic necessities of his line of work nor steal much from him.

As for Megamind, she asked Minion and got a little out of him. Though he was reluctant, he told her of some the injustices he had to endure from the time he arrived on Earth at only eight days old to the time he finally escaped prison at about eleven years old and created the Evil Lair. Roxanne's heart went out to him as he told her bits and pieces of Metro Boy's bulling, the rough treatment he endured at the prison, and nearly getting dissected by the government had it not been for the Warden.

Roxanne turned her attention to said blue alien, her eyes caressed his angular features as she glanced over at him. He was speaking animatedly to Mirth about a propulsion system that he could improve on. It was so cute how he got all excited about his inventions, his mouth barely keeping up with his brain. Mirth was following along rather well, and when Megamind paused he started to put his own contribution in. Megamind's eyes wandered in her direction, shooting her an '_I caught you'_ smirk, and she rolled her eyes. She struck up a conversation with Blossom, who was rather dressed up for the occasion, though she preferred jeans and a T-shirt to an evening dress normally. They spoke of something along the lines of what they missed about their home planets, but Roxanne noticed she too was a little distracted. Her eyes kept darting over to Mirth, a little grin played across her lips.

Roxanne sighed internally, "_I guess we're both love sick,_" she mused. She stopped herself, and shook that thought off. "_Me? Love sick? With him?"_ She peeked over at Megamind, a blush dusting her features, "Get a grip, girl."

Mirth stood suddenly, tapping his wine glass to get everyone's attention. By the time the resulting rings ceased, the room was completely still.

"By now I guess you're all wondering why I've asked you all here tonight on such short notice and I assure you it is of the up most importance," he said while swirling the dark red liquor restlessly. "At approximately 2130 hours yesterday evening, a message from the royal Asuki trade ship announced they would be arriving a few days earlier than previously scheduled. The new time of rendezvous is tomorrow evening at 2200 hours."

"Well, it's a good thing everything is ready," Ahi said sipping his wine leisurely, "The last thing we need it to go scrambling about at the last minute."

Every one nodded in silent agreement as dessert was served, Baked Alaska surrounded by sweet berries and caramel dressing. Though it was delicious, Roxanne picked at it nervously, letting the ice cream bleed out of the toasted meringue shell. The full weight of the situation hit her as she munched the berries. "_This could be very dangerous, are you sure you want to do this,_" one side of her mind rebuked. "_What's wrong with you_," the other said, "_You are Roxanne Ritchie, fearless reporter! You laugh in the face of danger_!" She banished those thoughts and choose to focus on her melting delicacy.

After dessert was finished everyone shuffled off to bed. Roxanne felt sort of heavy from the sweet treat as she showered and dressed for bed. She slid between the silken sheets and nestled into her pillow, willing sleep to enfold her in it soft warmth. "Just think Roxy," she mumbled sleepily, "your already half way home. Isn't that a good thing?"


	22. A midnight chat and a goodnight's kiss

_Just a bit of a fluff and stuff piece before the action begins. Please enjoy! =)_

**A midnight chat and a goodnight's kiss**

It was entirely the dream's fault. Megamind had fallen asleep rather quickly, but once he had been startled by the nightmare, rest came more grudgingly. He had dreamt that he had failed the damnable mission, and in doing so failed to get his little band of travelers home. His inventions were unsuccessful, and his actions meant to help only botched things further. On top of it all he had forgotten to wear pants. Oh the embarrassment as the faceless enemies chuckled at his humiliation. Strangely enough Metro Mahn was present, as well as his old shool mates. All of them guffawing with hollow voices and shadowed faces that seemed to loom at him. The dream was long gone but the mirthless sound was not. If it wasn't for the mocking chortles still ringing I his ears, he would be as contently asunder sleep's spell as the rest of the mansion's occupants, save one other.

Despite her pleas and begs to her overactive brain, Roxanne had yet to do anything besides simply skim the surface of slumber. Worry gnawed at the back of her mind as she counted sheep, to no avail. Finally with a weary sigh, she rolled out of bed and padded down the hall, into the warm glow of the low kitchen light. Her restlessness did not go unnoticed. Megamind saw the faint flicker of a passing shadow from under the door and heard the light slap of tired, bare feet on cold marble. He let his curiosity lead him to the beacon of light at the end of the long gloomy hall and down a small flight of stairs into a cozy kitchen area where he found Roxanne preparing to warm up some milk on the wood burning stove. She jumped slightly when she caught sight of him.

"Oh, you startled me," Roxanne said with bleary blue eyes, "did I wake you?"

Megamind shrugged, "just not that tired I guess, you too?"

"Mhm."

"What are you making?"

"Hot chocolate, want some?"

Megamind nodded and took a seat at the small wooden table as he watched her pour more milk into a saucepan and stir it pensively as she waited for it to heat.

"Are you nervous," She asked suddenly, not looking up from her steady movement.

He smiled wistfully and spoke softly, "I, the great Megamind nervous? Preposterous. That's the most outlandish thing I've ever heard of. Me, nervous," he chuckled uneasily as if it would help his cause.

Roxanne gave a fatigued smile, "that much, hu? Would have never guessed."

Megamind didn't even really argue the fact as he watched her generously spoon in the homemade coco blend from an old reused coffee tin. He rested his head in his hands as his heavy eyes trailed up and down her chemise clad form appreciatively. Oh If only she didn't belong to another he thought morosely, and it occurred to him as she poured the hot chocolate into mugs, that she hadn't even mentioned the big lug since they came here. Perhaps he was the reason she lay awake tonight? Bile stung the base of his esophagus at the suggestion and he internally scolded his thought process for giving him the idea. He took a sip of the sinfully creamy beverage and deliberated on how to approach the topic.

"So, what are you going to do once you get home," he questioned.

She took a small sip and cupped her hands around the earth-colored mug, "I dunno, probably pick up where I left off if I can. And there'll be the annoying task of telling everyone where we've been for the past six months," Megamind couldn't help but grin at the use of _we,_ as in she didn't want to be rid of him the instant they got back. "I wonder if the station has fired me by now," she added as an afterthought.

"If they did, there are plenty of other stations that would love to hire you on the spot, I bet," he nursed his drink some more, "speaking of news, I wonder what brick for brains has been doing whilst we've been gone."

"He's more than likely been bored to tears without you around, and they probably have that busty blonde covering him, oh what's her name," Roxanne tapped her lip in thought.

"You mean that Tracy chick, from all the menial fluff pieces?"

"Ya, that's the one. Wonder if a new villain has taken over in your place and is kidnapping her," she mused with a nonchalant smile.

Megamind smirked, "My dear, no criminal could ever take my place for I am the master of all villainy."

"Mk, whatever," she teased.

He ignored the comment and pressed on, "And what about you Miss Ritchie, would you fight for your spot as Metro Mahn's personal reporter?"

She thought a moment as she nibbled her lip, "No, I don't think I would. Don't get me wrong, the fame has done wonders for my reputation, but I'm kind of getting sick of him hitting on me and having to grin and bear it like I like it. On top of that I don't want to rely on him to make me a great reporter."

"I thought you liked Metro Douche," He pried further.

Roxanne finished her coco, "He's not really my type. Bulging muscles like that are kind of a turn off; besides that, one false move and a hug from him could turn you into a pancake. He's left more bruises on me from his rescues than any of your restrains have."

"My restraints left marks," he asked concern coloring his voice.

"One or twice when you used handcuffs, but it was more my fault for yanking at them."

"Hmm, remind me to use padded handcuffs next time."

"I remind you to wash that bag you insist on using during kidnappings, and it still smells like a gorilla's armpit, so I don't think that'll work," She tapped her empty glass with her fingers, "Are you really going to keep kidnapping me after all this is over?"

"I guess," he shrugged, "why?"

"Don't you think it's a little - redundant?"

He leaned back in his chair cockily, "Are you trying to turn me into a vigilante again, Miss Ritchie?"

She sighed, "No, but some sort of career change is in order. You may think you have no other choice, but you do. And I'm sorry if you haven't realized it yet, but you can't defeat a man without a weakness."

Megamind suddenly felt defensive at the word _can't_. It was like a glass ceiling blocking his path to conquest. He straightened his spine and furrowed his brow in annoyance, "Every man has a weakness, and he is no different. He's no god, and he will eventually fall."

Roxanne scowled at his harsh tone, "And at what cost? Your freedom? Your very life?"

He brushed it off, "I can escape prison any time I -,"

"That's not what I meant," she cut in, "This obsession with beating him has taken over your existence, Megamind, can't you see? This isn't grade school any more; you need to snap out of it. And what happens if you get badly hurt during one of your little schemes, or worse? What happens then? What would happen to Minion and the brain bots and all of your wonderful inventions? I wouldn't be able to stand it if-," she stopped, shaking her head and clasping her mug like it was a lifeline. And image of a blue mangled body surrounded by police tape flitted through her mind and a hand flew to her mouth. She calmed herself before she spoke again, "I'm worried about you, don't you understand?"

Megamind played with his nearly empty cup. He was abashed, but secretly very pleased that Roxanne cared that much for him. He thought for a long time about what she had said before letting go of a defeated sigh, "Alright I surrender," he waved an imaginary white flag, "I guess it's time to look into a career change after all. It couldn't hurt I guess, though I'll still have to flee from the law."

Roxanne flashed him a triumphant grin, "I know you'll think of something, besides you've got me on your side now."

"All ways good to know," he sleepily smiled back.

Roxanne tried to stifle an oncoming yawn, "Well my work here is done so I guess I should hit the sack."

"I concur," he said through a yawn of his own, "I feel like I could sleep for weeks right now."

Roxanne stood and took their now empty cups to the sink were she put them to the side to be washed in the morning. They both left the kitchen and walked back to their rooms in companionable silence until Megamind came to his door.

"Well Miss Ritchie, this is where I must leave you, goodnight."

Roxanne smiled and gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek, "Goodnight, Megamind. And thank you for considering what I said." And she sauntered all too quickly down the hallway and into her own room, leaving him to ponder her strange behavior as he crawled back into bed and finally found peaceful sleep.


End file.
